So, my state was just put on lock down and my college is now all online. So lots of time to write! *sigh* A little one-shot with a pairing I've never done before. Shanks x Makino! I would have preferred this being longer, but it just didn't pick up so it's a one-shot. Just watched the episode where Ace died. T_T Anyways, enjoy~
"...And that's when the pirate captain saved all of his friends, and they decided they would never stop going on new adventures and discovering new worlds," Makino finished quietly, as Luffy's eyes finally slid shut and he fell into a relaxed sleep, tiny snores barely heard from the baby. Makino closed the story book and set it down on the nightstand next to the crib bolted to the floor in case the ship swayed.
She made sure the curtains were closed completely, and closed the bedroom door until there was only a crack open and clipped the baby monitor to her side. Makino walked through the interior of Red Force, going to ask when they would stop at the next island, as Luffy had run out of cherries, his favorite snack.
A few members of the Red Haired crew greeted their captain's wife in a respectful manner, though Makino had often told them that she may be the captain's partner but she was also family and they didn't need to call her ma'am or missus. It had been four years since she and Shanks got married, but only under a year since Luffy had been born.
"Honey, when is the next island?" Makino asked Shanks when she entered the map room. Shanks was talking with the navigators about what Makino was wondering. "Luffy is out of cherries, but he hasn't noticed it yet," she elaborated.
Shanks kissed her forehead and replied, "The day after tomorrow we will end up at one of our own protected islands. It'll take a little while for the log pose to set, but it's a safe island. I'm sure we can get Luffy his cherries and we'll restock other supplies as well." The ship sloshed a little from a larger wave and tilted to the side. The baby monitor blinked red and they heard a noisy and sleepy sounding coo from it.
Both parents waited a moment to see if Luffy would fall back asleep, and he did. "We should also buy some more things for him besides cherries. It would be smart to buy a new set of cloth diapers and he broke his rattle the other day," Makino said conversationally as she and Shanks headed to the kitchen.
"I'm sure that won't be a problem, either. He sure is a strong baby," Shanks said proudly. Makino chuckled and the ship swayed again, and they both heard crying from the baby monitor. Shanks offered to go see and left the room to go to Luffy's room, which used to be a little storage room. They had gotten it redone at Water 7 and a window was added to it to put in natural light. It was nearest to the captain's quarters. There was a crib in there, as well, but during the day Luffy slept in his own bedroom.
He entered and found Luffy crying in his crib, the little black haired baby's face red and wet with tears. "Hey, Lu. What's the matter, buddy?" Shanks asked when he got close enough. Luffy opened his big, dark eyes and made a babble. Then his tummy growled and he cried again. "You're hungry, huh?" Shanks said and picked him up out of the crib, feet kicking before he was in Shanks's arms. "Why don't we go get you some baby food, hmm?"
Shanks left with Luffy to go to the kitchen and get some baby food for him. He gripped Shanks' shirt in his little hand as they headed to their destination, babbling and excited for food. Luffy ate a lot for his tiny size, always hungry. He often woke up in the middle of the night from being hungry.
At first, having a baby to take care of was hard and stressful, but Makino was a natural at it and soon Shanks began to love having a baby. He couldn't wait to hear Luffy say his first words or start walking. He had no doubt he'd be a trouble maker.
When they got to the kitchen, Shanks sat him down in the high chair, going to the cupboard to get baby food. They had stocked up like crazy on essentials. Luffy babbled and watched Shanks in the kitchen, and Shanks smiled.
No one else besides the crew knew of Luffy's existence. Makino went on islands with some of the crew, Luffy in the baby carrier. Someone was always with her, and Shanks usually only went places with the both of them on protected islands so that no one made the connection that the emperor now had a baby, the most vulnerable thing in the whole world.
He got some banana baby food, and brought it to Luffy to spoon feed him. Luffy looked at it and whined. "We don't have any more cherries, but we'll get some more in a few days. For now, it's baby food or milk," Shanks said, even though he knew Luffy had no idea what he was saying. But, he accepted the baby food, eating it hungrily. He had three jars before he started to blink tiredly.
Shanks wiped his mouth with the bib he'd put on the baby and brought him back to his room, placing him in the crib, in a onesie. It got cold on the ship so he had long sleeve onesies and little hats over his black hair. He looked more like Makino than Shanks, which he was happy with. Makino was beautiful and he liked having a baby that looked like her.
"Sleep tight, buddy," Shanks said quietly after giving him a kiss on the forehead. He left the room and found Makino still in the navigator's room, talking about the next island, wondering if it was safe for Luffy. She was making a list of everything they needed for Luffy and her. Makino had adjusted very well to being a pirate after being a bar owner for so long. The good thing about her previous position was that she was plenty used to drunk people. And pirates drank a lot. Though Shanks had cut back since Luffy was born.
"How was he?"
"He was hungry, so I fed him. We should stock up on more baby food. He ate three jars," Shanks said. "I don't know where he got that huge appetite. Even I don't eat that much for my own body weight."
Makino shrugged, wondering that as well. At least they had more than enough to be able to feed him. They wouldn't be running out of money for his things anytime soon. The transponder snail connected to Whitebeard's ship started ringing, and the crew in the room looked surprised. "I'll be back in a bit," Shanks said and took the device to the galley where no one else was.
"Hi, Newgate. What brings you to call me?" Shanks asked. The other emperor didn't even know about Luffy's existence. They hadn't crossed paths in a long time, not since before Makino was pregnant. He'd met the woman, but did not know they had a baby.
"Hello, brat. I'm on one of your islands. Just wanted to let you know in case you get any calls about our presence. How have you been? Been a long time since we met," the emperor said. Shanks could hear other voices in the background, Whitebeard's crew. He heard Marco's voice. Man, he wished he'd join their crew. He was quite strong and would be a lot of help, not that they were in desperate need of stronger members. Rarely did anyone mess with them, including marines. That was the biggest perk about being an emperor. Rarely was anyone stupid enough to challenge them directly.
Shanks liked to fight, sure, but he cared more about his family's safety now. He still fought his own crew to keep in shape. And took care of anyone stupid enough to hurt any of his protected islands.
"I'm doing very well," Shanks replied honestly. He didn't go into detail about why, of course. He thought Whitebeard would be happy for him, but no one needed to know yet. He was sure Luffy would be a powerful pirate, even if his mother was quite gentle. Already he was breaking toys. They had bought many toys for him to play with, but he kept breaking them. They weren't exactly expensive, so that wasn't a problem. "And you?"
"We got a feisty brat to join. He sure was a hassle. Tried killing me over 100 times!" and the man laughed at it. "Things are good so far. Why don't we meet up sometime soon? I have some good sake I got from one of our islands a bit ago."
Shanks wouldn't decline, even if he wouldn't learn about Luffy's presence on the ship. The baby would be staying inside. Plus, the noises might scare him. Strong, he was, but he was still a baby, and got startled. Whitebeard would no doubt like to hear about him, but Shanks and Makino weren't comfortable with that. Any of his crew could let something slip on accident.
"That sounds like a plan. We're nearing an island ourselves. Where are you? Which of my islands?" Shanks asked.
"Yukiryu," Whitebeard replied. Shanks knew that wasn't the island they were nearing. They were not far from Yukiryu, though. It would take maybe a couple weeks to get there. And he and Whitebeard could meet in the middle. It wasn't far from the next island.
Shanks said, "I'm nearing Sakura right now. We'll be there in a couple days. We can meet in the middle, though. It's not too far from Yukiryu." Shanks looked forward to seeing him again. They weren't exactly friends, but weren't enemies and catching up was enjoyable. Plus, the sake he had was supposedly delicious, and Shanks could appreciate that. And he wondered about the newest member who tried killing him. It was a bit strange to recruit someone who continually tried to kill him. But, once Whitebeard decided he wanted something, he'd stop at nothing to get it. Especially new sons.
"Sounds like a plan, brat," Whitebeard said. Shanks would always be a kid to him, since they'd met when he was just a cabin boy back with Buggy on Roger's crew. He wondered how that idiot was doing. He hadn't heard anything about him since they split. Shanks also wondered what Rayleigh would think of Luffy. He was sure the former first mate would be happy to meet the baby.
The red haired pirate knew Roger would have adored Luffy. Would have considered himself some sort of grandpa to the baby. Shanks could see Luffy pulling on his mustache, and he wished the man was still alive. He thought about him often, but with happy feelings. No more sadness. It had been 20 years, after all.
"I'll call once we leave Sakura. Good to talk to you again, Newgate," Shanks said sincerely.
"You, too," and the call ended. Shanks looked forward to seeing the man. He wondered how his health was. He was getting old, was already old, and you couldn't defeat the effects of age with willpower alone. It would be a sad day when the man passed on. Hopefully not for a long time.
Shanks left the room to bring the snail back to where it belonged and tell his crew and wife about the plan to meet up with the fellow emperor. The only other good one out of the lot. Big Mom and Kaido were in the news often. The woman destroyed her own island while Kaido had taken over Wano.
Now two of the four emperors were fathers, though Shanks wasn't by adoption.
-x-
Shanks walked with Makino and Luffy, who was in the baby carrier, to the market, Luffy babbling as they went. He was handling a little stuffed turtle, happy to look at the surroundings. It was different from the interior of the ship and the endless sea. Luffy would surely love adventures when he got older. Well, he liked them now. Going onto an island to shop was an adventure for him. They arrived at the market, buying all sorts of cherries for him.
Shanks crouched down and held up the bag of cherries to the baby. "Look what you get to eat later?" he asked in a happy voice. Luffy smiled with the few teeth he had, liking the cherries, they were his favorite, but someone had to supervise him eating them so he didn't choke.
Shanks had the surplus of cherries in a basket and the rest of the crew were shopping for other things. They went into a children's shop and bought some new toys and things for him to chew on. Luffy wanted some cherries now, and whined about it.
They went to a picnic table and Shanks gave him a few cherries to eat while Makino sketched the surroundings. Luffy was sitting in the carrier with the bag of cherries in his lap, where he fingered them clumsily. Shanks looked away for just a second where Luffy pulled out a very different looking pair of cherries. It was golden and swirly, and he immediately stuck it in his mouth, chewing on it and swallowing one of the two fruits.
He started crying at the yucky taste and Shanks saw him holding the second golden cherry. The pirate captain's eyes widened and he took the devil fruit from Luffy's hand. His face grew pale, and he shouted, "Shit!" The loud noise made Luffy flinch and cry louder. Makino was startled as well.
"What? What is it?" she asked worriedly, closing the sketchbook. The sudden shout had ruined the drawing since the pencil had jerked across the page. She was very worried with Shanks' panicked expression. Luffy looked fine, even if he was crying. She took him out of the carrier and rocked him, shushing him quietly.
"He ate a devil fruit the second I wasn't looking," Shanks said bitterly.
Makino knew what devil fruits were, but didn't see why it was such a concern. Luffy couldn't swim anyways, and wouldn't be exposed to seastone since he was both a baby and would always be protected, never encountering it anywhere. "Why is that so bad? What devil fruit was it?" She knew Shanks had a reason for being so freaked out.
"We don't know what fruit it was, or how he'll react. I've never heard of a baby eating a devil fruit. I knew he would be a troublemaker, but I didn't think this early," Shanks said with a sigh, though he couldn't be mad at a baby for eating his favorite food, even if it wasn't. It looked like a cherry. Shanks had no idea what fruit it was. But he was worried. What if it was a powerful one? And uncontrollable. They would need to find a devil fruit encyclopedia.
"We'll find out what it was, since we know what it looks like. Thank goodness it has two so we were able to see what it is," Shanks said. He had no idea what it was, but hoped so much that it wasn't something totally dangerous.
Luffy eventually calmed down and resumed eating his cherries while he babbled about the birds flying overhead. He was having a great time, even if his parents were both very worried. He eventually fell asleep, hand curled around an unfinished cherry. They walked back to the ship, both wearing nervous faces.
When Makino was back on board, Shanks hurried to a bookstore to find a devil fruit encyclopedia, which was popular since almost everyone dreamed of having a powerful devil some day. Shanks didn't want one, but could see the appeal for many people to have one.
He bought one, as the store had many copies, and then headed back after checking in on the mayor of the town to see how things were going. No pirate raids in awhile, which was good news. And the crops were doing well on the spring island. Shanks was glad to hear it, though there was the underlying worry about the fruit.
When he got back to the ship, he immediately skimmed through the book, not finding the fruit until the very end, which made him drop the book onto the deck, a look of true horror on his face. How could he manage to find that one?!
He hurried inside to find Makino bathing Luffy in the sink, limp and relaxed in the warm water. Makino looked relaxed, and Shanks didn't want to ruin it by telling her the fruit the baby had eaten. Shanks wished he could have made Luffy throw it back up, but he was a baby and Shanks couldn't just hang him upside down and shake it out of him. It'd probably cause irreparable damage to his fragile body.
"Honey, I know what fruit he ate," Shanks said, a hand on Makino's shoulder. But before he could say anything, bubbles started to form in the water, coming out of Luffy's body, while he giggled at it. The bubbles poured out of the water and onto the floor, Luffy laughing happily at it.
Makino got a towel and started to clean up the bubbles, which had stopped forming. Her lips were pursed in a tight line, worry etched on her face. "He ate one called the all-all fruit. It has every paramecia fruit's powers," Shanks said grimly.
His wife looked horrified as well. Luffy was a baby, he couldn't control a fruit that powerful. What would happen? Makino didn't know much about all of the fruits, but she did know Whitebeard's power was a paramecia. Meaning Luffy, a baby, had the strongest man's ability. The soap stopped forming and Makino silently pulled him out of the water, drying him off and dressing their child.
Luffy started laughing when his body turned into a blob, stretching the onesie slightly, thought it mostly held him together. "What do we do?" Makino asked, fretting over Luffy as he started to float, squealing in happiness. He was having the time of his life while his parents were freaking out. Makino took him from the air and hurried to the carrier, clipping him in so he couldn't float anymore. But next, slime started coming from his hands, which he flailed around, throwing slime all over the place.
Shanks sighed, putting his hand to his face. This was going to be a nightmare. But at least the baby wasn't freaking out. Yet. Hopefully none of the strongest fruits would manifest. This could be really bad.
-x-
Life with Luffy had turned stressful very quickly. The parents barely got any sleep at night with Luffy continuously activating the fruits on accident, making loud noises during the night, squealing or laughing at the strange new things happening to him. They were sailing on, still planning on meeting with Whitebeard's crew, but it was hard to get a wink of sleep. But at least Luffy was happy and not scared.
Makino was scared, since Luffy had become a hazard sometimes. Like when little spikes came out of his skin, wrecking his onesies, or when he turned into knives. But at least he wasn't harmed by any of them. It was like walking on eggshells, but the parents did their best not to scare Luffy.
They had a list of what fruits he activated, and most of them were not too powerful. Thank goodness the two most feared ones hadn't shown up. The tremor-tremor fruit and hobby-hobby fruit. If Luffy couldn't control those, it could be the end of their ship and crew. And at Luffy's age, there was no way to train him.
Shanks knew this power would make Luffy incredibly powerful. If only he was older when he found it! When Shanks was changing him one day, Luffy turned slippery and slipped off of the changing station, making quite a mess, and landed on the floor, bouncing like a ball with the rubber-rubber fruit. He then started to foam with bubbles, the baby's personal favorite.
The emperor sighed and picked Luffy up, wiping him and putting on a new cloth diaper. "Oh, Lu. What a mess," Shanks said. Luffy laughed and kicked his feet, putting his hands up to be held. The man gave him a soft smile and picked him up, holding him close, while Luffy fisted his hands on Shanks' shirt. "It's impossible to be mad at you, you know that? So spoiled."
Luffy bubbled up again, soaking Shanks, but he just chuckled. Luffy's little feet kicked excitedly when Makino entered the room. He babbled, reaching for his mommy. Makino had circles under her eyes as well, but smiled and went to take Luffy. She looked down to see the mess Luffy had made. "What happened here?" she asked as her husband.
"I was changing him and he turned slippery and fell off the changing station, smearing everything," Shanks replied, and Makino chuckled.
"What a little trouble maker you are," Makino said, and lifted Luffy to blow a raspberry on his round belly. Which then rumbled. Luffy whined, hungry. "Let's go get you some yum yums. How about that?"
Shanks smiled fondly at his wife and child, who took a clump of Makino's hair and put it in his mouth. Makino walked out, Luffy looking at his papa over his shoulder. He gave him a gummy smile, the few bottom teeth out of view. Shanks let out a deep breath and took the crap stained towel to the laundry room, pouring detergent over it and scrubbing it in the sink.
Makino sat Luffy in the high chair, putting his yellow bib on and got three jars of peach baby food, bringing it back. "How about we have some cherries after this yummy food?" Makino asked in her baby voice. Luffy grinned, and grabbed at the spoon when Makino put it in his mouth. The baby food dribbled out of his mouth a little, but he brought his chubby hands up and wiped it onto his fingers, making them a bit sticky. Makino wiped his mouth with the bib and spoon fed him some more.
Beckman came in, asking how he was doing. "Any new powers?" Makino shook her head, and Luffy turned to stare at the first mate. Beckman really liked Luffy, even if he was against a baby on the pirate ship at first. But things had gone smoothly, besides the devil fruit.
"Shanks was changing him and he slipped off of the changing station. I think he's scrubbing it in the laundry room," she explained, redirectly Luffy's attention back to the food by making silly noises. Beckman laughed, probably thinking of Shanks scrubbing a crap stained towel. Never did he think things would end up like this.
Beckman walked over and said hello to the baby, who babbled back. "Are you having num nums?" he asked in a light voice. Luffy cooed in response, and Makino fed him another spoonful.
"Can you get some cherries?" she asked, and Beckman went into the kitchen to get some, and brought them back to the mother and son. Suddenly, a little white ball floated out of Luffy's messy hands. It had a face on it and floated up into the air and through the ceiling. "Ah!" Luffy said, and pointed up at it. Makino got out the list from her pocket and wrote down the ghost-ghost fruit. She had memorized all of them. Some more little ghosts came out and flew around his head. Luffy was fascinated. "Ah!"
"I see. Are those new friends?" Makino asked, fine with these ones. They didn't cause any damage, and just flew around Luffy's head before popping away. Luffy started crying when the last one popped away. Makino smiled fondly, as did Beckman.
Makino picked him up, wiping his hands with the bib first. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll come back later. No need to be upset," she cooed, bouncing him. He lost the tears and gave her an open mouthed look, taking some hair and sticking it in his mouth. She chuckled. "I'm sure my hair doesn't taste good." Suddenly, the strands of hair turned into mush, baby food. She put her hair behind her ear, baby food now on her shoulder.
Well, it looked like she'd need to put her hair up or wear the bandana again to keep her hair out of his reach. "Beckman, will you write that down on the list? The cook-cook fruit." Beckman nodded and went to the counter to record the latest power. "Well, someone is learning new things today, aren't you?" Makino asked in a bright voice. "Better slow down or daddy will be jealous of you getting stronger than him."
Luffy laughed happily, flailing his arms around. "Mommy will be jealous, too, if you start making food," she added with a bright grin. Luffy grinned back.
It was late that night, both Makino and Shanks were sleeping on the big bed in the captain's quarters when a loud pop noise was made, with the sound of something breaking and falling to the floor with a thud. Both parents jerked awake, and found Luffy laying on the floor, his crib broken in pieces. He started screaming and crying.
Shanks hurried over and looked at the broken crib, which looked like it'd exploded. Another dangerous one, the pop-pop fruit. Shanks picked Luffy up and rocked him back and forth, before taking him to bed and laying him in between his parents, where he grabbed one of each of their hands, before falling back to sleep for the rest of the night. Makino sighed, and Shanks gave her an encouraging smile.
They woke up with shock to find Luffy had grown older during the night, and his onesie had ripped with the growth. The age fruit. "Luffy?" Makino said, waking him up by shaking his tummy.
"Ah?" he babbled, looking at his hand and started crying before changing back to his original age, shrinking and becoming younger. "Oh, poor baby," Makino said, kissing his forehead. "It's okay, mommy and daddy will take care of you. No need to be afraid," she hushed, rubbing comforting circles on his belly.
The tears continued, and both of them were trying to cheer him up until Makino dangled his current favorite toy above him, which was a plastic giraffe. He grabbed it and tearfully put it in his mouth, sniffling a little bit before he stopped crying, though he definitely didn't look happy.
Both parents got up and dressed, Shanks picking up his son and bouncing him, to which Luffy cooed a bit, still holding the toy to his mouth. "Write the new one on the list, honey?" Shanks asked, circles under his eyes. He loved Luffy with all his heart, but it was getting hard to deal with. Makino had never seen Whitebeard's power in person, but Shanks had, and knew how bad it would be for them if he awakened it.
Not to mention the strain it would put on his tiny, fragile body. The two headed to breakfast, where much of the crew were already, eating after their chef had cooked. Shanks sat at the table, putting Luffy in the high chair while Makino got some squash baby food. Luffy liked all the flavors they tried. He wasn't a picky eater unless he wanted cherries. Luckroo offered to feed Luffy so that Makino could eat.
"Thank you," Makino said tiredly.
Yasopp looked at his captain and said, "You look like shit, cap." Shanks glared at him.
"Luffy exploded last night. The pop-pop fruit," he said, which was enough explanation. Luffy was a contrast to his parents, who looked perfectly happy, eating his breakfast, Luckroo wiping at his chin as baby food spilled out.
Yasopp said, "Man, Luffy. You're such a troublesome brat." Luffy laughed, clapping his hands excitedly. The crew couldn't help but smile. Even if things were hard, it was nice that Luffy was usually happy, no matter what happened. Only a few of the powers really scared him, which was lucky.
The boy did not awaken any new power that day, and none of the dangerous ones showed up. He laid on his stomach on the picnic blanket out on deck, playing with ghosts that keep coming from his chubby hands. He kicked his legs excitedly each time one came. The crew would be meeting with Whitebeard the next day, and Shanks was unsure of whether to explain the situation to the larger emperor. He had devil fruit users on his ship, maybe they could help somehow.
Shanks had a meeting with Makino and his crew about whether to tell Whitebeard, and most agreed that it was a good idea to ask help from someone they could trust. Shanks left the choice ultimately up to Makino. "I think it would be helpful to talk to some devil fruit users," she said, Luffy held in her arms, napping quietly.
That night they did not have a peaceful sleep again. Luffy didn't use any powers, but cried for much of the night, and neither parent knew why. Even when he was brought to the bed, he still cried. It worried both of them, and Luffy only fell asleep at four in the morning, Shanks and Makino falling asleep as soon as he had stopped crying, both exhausted.
Makino napped on the deck, laying next to Luffy as he played with his plastic giraffe. She was exhausted, but Shanks stayed awake, watching Luffy and directing his crew on who would be staying on the ship and who would be going to the Moby Dick with the parents and Luffy.
When they saw the huge ship on the horizon, Shanks gently woke his wife up. "Honey, we're almost at Whitebeards," he said. Makino nodded and yawned, putting Luffy in the baby carrier. He was a mochi blob, and thought it was absolutely hilarious. "I'll greet him first and then you and Lu can come on."
"Okay," Makino said, getting a bag of cherries to distract Luffy and hopefully not have him make too much trouble. Shanks kissed her forehead and they pulled up and dropped anchor next to the Moby Dick.
Shanks wasn't planning on drinking. As much as he wanted to, he had to be alert for anything with Luffy. When he stepped on the ship, he didn't use any conquerors haki, which was unusual for most of his visits. He enjoyed riling up the Whitebeards, but he was exhausted right now. He didn't even ask Marco to join them, and headed straight to Whitebeard, who had a huge bottle of sake.
The man, of course, noticed the bags under Shanks' eyes. The first thing he said when Shanks sat in front of him was: "You look like shit." Shanks chuckled. Whitebeard looked sincerely concerned and worried. "I thought you said you were doing well."
Shanks nodded, and replied, "I was. Things have changed since then. We have had a unique situation on our ship. It has made sleeping difficult." All of the commanders looked incredibly curious, and Shanks saw the newby, a black haired kid with freckles and an orange hat. Looked pretty young, and familiar for some reason. But he looked away and back to the captain.
"You gonna explain or just leave me hanging?" he asked in his deep voice. Shanks called Makino over, and she walked onto the Moby Dick from the plank connecting both ships, Luffy in the baby carrier, babbling and kicking his legs, excited to see all the new people. Whitebeard's eyebrows raised. "I wasn't expecting a baby to turn you into this. Though I luckily skipped that stage with all of my sons. Hello, Makino. It is nice to see you again."
Whitebeard was always very polite and respectful to Makino, which Shanks was glad of. And none of the Whitebeards ever made catcalls at her or Shanks would kill them. Makino brought Luffy up to the captain and then unclipped him. "Luffy, this is Whitebeard," Makino said, and Luffy looked up at the huge man in awe.
The other pirates thought he was cute, and Whitebeard said, "This is not a newborn."
"No, I kept him secret. I need your help, Newgate," Shanks said, standing next to Makino.
Whitebeard looked at him in disbelief. "I don't think I'd be much help for a baby, Shanks." The smaller emperor shook his head, wishing it was that simple. Luffy slapped his hands excitedly and babbled. Whitebeard smiled at the baby, a fond look on that he reserved for his sons only. But he hadn't seen a baby in a long time. Just like Shanks hadn't either before he had his own.
"No, Luffy ate a devil fruit. That's what I need help with. The baby ate the most powerful fruit in the world," shanks said, shaking his head at the whole situation. So ridiculous. But Whitebeard's face turned dark, knowing which fruit.
"The all-all?" Shanks nodded grimly. Luffy chose that moment to use the slip slip fruit. Well, he didn't choose to, but it happened and he slipped out of Makino's arms and bounced on the deck, laughing at it and flailing around. Makino hurried to pick him up, glad it didn't hurt him when that happened.
Whitebeard looked at the baby with a frown. "I don't know how much I'd be able to help you Shanks. He's a baby, you can't train a baby," the captain said in a sad voice. Shanks sighed and Makino frowned, hugging Luffy close.
Marco walked up and stood next to Whitebeard. "You may not be able to train him, but you could try and suppress his powers until he's old enough to control them," he offered. "What about seastone?"
Shanks said, "We don't have any. And nothing is small enough for him to use." It was an idea, but seastone was hard to come by unless you were a marine. Plus, they didn't make cuffs tiny enough for Luffy. There was no way to train him when he couldn't speak or understand language, but if they could get seastone on him somehow, he would stop using them. He may be tired, but he'd be safe, as would they and the ship.
Marco shared a look with his captain. "I'm sure we have at least one pair. We could change it up and have our blacksmith make it into a bracelet for the kid," the first mate said simply. Makino's face lit up. Luffy would be able to sleep through the night like a normal baby. They would still need to teach him, but sleeping peacefully was the least he could ask for.
Clueless to the serious atmosphere, Luffy started bubbling, Makino's clothes soaked in bubbles. Luffy giggled, and Makino kissed his soapy head.
Shanks conversed with Whitebeard about things other than Luffy, who was having a field day with his bubbles, while the blacksmith on the crew worked inside on making a little band for Luffy's hand. They measured his wrist, and the baby played with some of the commanders. Ace showed Luffy fire tricks with his flames while Thatch brought out different foods for the baby, who sat on the deck, Makino sitting with her hand supporting his back up.
Luffy had a very fun day, and it ended with a tiny seastone bracelet being put around his chubby wrist, draining him of energy and shutting off his powers. He went limp in Makino's lap, looking sleepy, but happy. He fell asleep, resting against his mommy's chest.
They'd be able to sleep through the night, and Luffy could have peaceful naps again. Makino tucked him into the carrier where he slept. Shanks was overjoyed, but knew this was just the beginning. It would take a lot of time and effort to make sure Luffy was safe with the powers.
Shanks bowed to Whitebeard, something the pirates were shocked by. "Thank you, Newgate," Shanks said sincerely. The huge man laughed.
"No problem, brat. Don't let that squirt destroy the world or I'll be angry," he said in good humor. Shanks laughed with him, feeling better than he had been before coming on the ship. He walked to his wife and sleeping baby, and kissed his forehead.
Shanks said, "Luffy will grow up to be the strongest person in the world. You will have competition in twenty years, Whitebeard." He was grinning, and Whitebeard laughed again. There was a party thrown in Luffy's honor, just because he was so sweet and cute. He slept through the whole thing, a peaceful smile on his face.