A/N: On 12/21/2016, I uploaded a new version of a few chapters, changing a few parts. In this one, I changed very little. I changed Elle's pirate name from 'Hell Spawn Elle' to 'Hell Cat Elle', as I think the latter sounds better. I also changed how old Elle and the twins were when they meet Luffy. If you don't want to read this update, I removed the part where the twins had been born before Elle met Luffy. Now she had met him about 2 months after Shanks left. I hope you enjoy my changes!

Shanks watched at the woman stiffened. She paused mid-step at his word, her tail falling still and her ears moving flat against her head. Her shoulders raised as she took in a deep breath before she crouched in front of the two boys with her. She ordered them to go upstairs, but they both started to protest. Shanks couldn't see what she did to them, but they both stopped their protests and started walking up the stairs. Shanks was amused to see them both send glares his way. They had spunk, those boys. Reminded him of a boy he had met a decade before.

The woman continued to stare up at the staircase long after the boys were gone. The room was so silent that even Shanks heard it when the door shut upstairs. The woman sighed again and rubbed her face. She called out that she knew they were still there, and that they knew better than to disobey a direct order. A pounding set of footsteps and the slamming of the door was the only answer she got. The woman gave a small nod before turning back to face Shanks.

He had to admit that her expression did, indeed, remind him of Elle. Something about the sadness in her yellow eyes and the way her ears drooped. But Shanks hadn't been lying earlier. Shanks' eyes fell down to her chest, where her cleavage was clearly visible. She was clearly a woman, there was no doubt about it. And Elle...? Well, Elle's—ahem—assets—were very hard to, uhm, find. Even Shanks had been unaware that she even had them until that night... Shanks shook the thought from his mind. Safe to say, Shanks could always recognize Elle, and this woman was not her.

"Why not?" she finally asked, opening her mouth and showing that her teeth were once again normal. When she had been yelling at him earlier, an adorable little fang had shown. Shanks almost felt sad to see it gone.

"It is not my problem." Her eyes narrowed at him, so he continued, "I don't care what the Navy orders you to do. It is none of my concern, and I will not endanger my self or any members of my crew to help you complete this task." Shanks glanced down at the crumpled piece of paper in his hand, scanning the text once more. "From the looks of this, you're a Marine Captain. You should have no trouble taking down that man, with the help of the Marines."

The atmosphere in the room changed abruptly after he finished speaking, shocking Shanks. Suddenly, the anger that had started the brawl earlier shifted and morphed before settling into one of hostility so pure it was almost palpable. As this woman was staying here, Shanks had assumed that everyone knew what she was. But the irate glare she was sending his way told him that he had made a mistake.

"Thanks, really," she scoffed, sarcasm all but oozing out of her words. "It's not like I was trying to stay under the radar or anything, with this being a notorious Pirate Town in the New World."

"Wait—,"

"It's not my fault you were stupid enough to come here," Shanks retorted, striding over to his stool and sitting down once more.

"At least I didn't start a bar fight as soon as I got into port," she snapped, walking up to him again. She scowled at his mug before taking it right out of his hand.

"Hey! Give that back!" Shanks reached for his mug, but she deftly pulled it away from him. Giving him a haughty glare, she downed the entire contents of the mug before handing it back to him. "You owe me a drink!"

"I owe you?!"

"Uh, hey, I don't—,"

Her mouth fell open in shock and she put her small fists on her hips again. It made her a delightful picture, if Shanks truly thought about it. Her yukata was ruffled, almost falling off her shoulders, and short enough he was surprised that no one had gotten a glimpse of her panties yet. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkling. In short, she looked like a woman who had either just been bedded, or was about to be. That adorable little fang appeared again, bringing Shanks' attention back to what she was saying.

"You owe me ten years, Shanks Le Roux!" she snarled, shoving her finger into his chest. "Thanks to your stupid pig-headed act—!"

"Pig-headed?" Shanks growled back, standing again so that he was towering over her. "If anyone is acting pig-headed, it's you!"

"I never—!"

"Will both of you just shut up!?"

I turned my glare towards the panting barkeep. I told him to shut up and mind his own business, but my ire only increased when I said the words in unison with Red-Hair. I growled up at the pirate and felt a slight tingling in my skin. When I glanced down at my hand, I noted that faint white stripes were starting to appear on my arms. Great. He was so infuriating, I was starting to lose control of my Form! I opened my mouth to continue berating Red-Hair. I almost bit the hand that abruptly covered my mouth. I returned my gaze to the barkeep, silently daring him to keep his hand over my mouth.

"Before you two get back into your fight," the barkeep snapped, "I have a few questions." Red-Hair told the man to speak as I pulled his hand off of my mouth. "I may be missing something, but it seems to me like this girl is claiming to be your former crew member Hell Cat Elle."

"You're correct," Red-Hair said at the same time I said, "I am Elle."

Both men turned to me. "I hate to break it to ya, Lady," the barkeep said condescendingly. "But there's no way you're Elle."

"Oh, and why is that?" I growled, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Well, first of all, Elle is a man."

Oh, how words could wound.

Shanks all but saw the words pierce the woman standing before him. She flew backwards before falling to her knees. A dark aura surrounded the woman and she started mumbling to herself. Shanks couldn't help himself; he started to laugh. The sight was just too amusing! As he laughed and laughed, tears pouring out of his eyes and clutching his stomach, Shanks watched Ben crouch before the woman. His second in command whispered a few words to the woman, to which she replied with a muffled grumble.

Shanks had pulled himself together by the time the woman sat up and turned back to the barkeep. "It doesn't matter to me whether or not a stupid third-rate pirate like you believes me," she said in a deadpan.

The man scowled down at her. "Well, it matters to me!" he snapped. "For years, I have been looking to find out what happened to the Hell Cat, and I've received no help from him," he added, jerking his thumb at Shanks.

Shanks just gave a small shrug and went to take a sip of his ale. He frowned down at the empty mug before setting it back on the bar. "Elle's business is her business," he said simply, leaning back on the bar. "I have no right to say what she's doing."

"Only because you have no idea." Shanks looked at the girl. She was sitting on bent knees, finger-combing her long white hair. She wasn't looking at Shanks, so she didn't see it when Shanks' dark eyes lingered on the shady depths barely hidden by her yukata. "In the ten years, five months since I have last seen Red-Hair Shanks, he has never once inquired about my welfare."

All of the hair on Shanks' body stood on end. How did this woman know how long it had been since he had last seen Elle? "I didn't ask about you," the barkeep said scathingly. "I was asking about Hell Cat."

The woman glared up at him. "And didn't I just answer you? I am—or, at least, was—Hell Cat." She glanced over at Shanks as she started to re-braid her hair. "And I know for a fact that you have never inquired about me, Shanks, because Garp would have told me if you had."

"Fine," the barkeep said, stepping in front of the woman, "Prove that you were the Hell Cat."

The woman sighed and threw her completed braid over her shoulder. "I have no reason to prove it to you, Mr. Barkeep, but as this man is too thick-headed to believe me, I will." She turned her pale gaze on Shanks, startling him with the depth and the sadness filled in that profound amber. "67492."

Shanks' stomach turned to stone and his mouth, a desert. "Wh-what?" Her eyes just stared at him, silently daring him to have her repeat it. "How do you know that?"

As I watched all of the color leach from Red-Hair's face, I knew I had him. He just didn't want to believe me, wanted to think something crazy, like I had tortured the number out of the 'real' Elle. Dumbass, being so easy to read...

I let out a sigh. "Fine, not good enough?" I held up my hand and started ticking off my fingers, "Buggy was the one who technically gave me my name. You guys found me right before you officially disbanded, though Rayleigh told me that I kept the crew together for several months longer than planned. You give Mihawk a run for his money—well, maybe not now, thanks to your arm..." I pulled my gaze off of his left shoulder and continued my count. "You only steal from other pirates, much preferring to drink the day away instead of fight. But you will fight, if you feel it is needed."

"Any one could know all of those facts," he said lazily, handing his mug to the gaping bartender. "That doesn't prove that you are my—"

"Lost Kitten?" He scowled at me and I rubbed my face. Really, stupid thick-headed men! I really did not want to use my trump card in such a public place, but there was absolutely no way anyone but Ben, Shanks, and I could know about it. "The night we received word about my newest bounty was also my sixteenth birthday. We celebrated as a crew and both had too much to drink. One thing lead to another, and we ended up a longways away from the rest of the crew. I must say, you were very gentle, though extremely insta—"

"ALRIGHT!" Shanks shouted, standing up. His face was as read as his hair, and his nose looked to be a little wet. "Fine. You're Elle."

I ignored the shocked murmurs (or, in the case of the barkeep, out right shouts) and nodded at Shanks. I stood up, careful to press the back of my yukata against my thighs. "Good. I'm glad you have finally seen reason, Shanks," I said carefully, pulling my yukata tighter around my chest. "I will see you in the morning, where we can talk more about my request."

She was running again, running across the deck and dodging the crew. She glanced over her shoulder and still saw no sign of her pursuers, though she could hear their curses getting louder and louder. Her default place to hide was the Crow's Nest, so there was no way she could hide there. Seeing a potential place, she quickly ducked under a white cape. She glanced up at the owner of the cape and gave him a wide grin, placing her finger over her mouth. The door leading to the lower decks suddenly burst open, so the girl quickly hid behind the man's legs. Peeking out from behind him, she watched her pursuers.

The two apprentices of the Oro Jackson burst onto the deck, falling into a heap of scandalous curses. The entire right side of Shanks was tightly pressed against the left side of Buggy. Almost like they were glued together. Stifling her giggle, Elle couldn't help but to think they had been asking for it, falling asleep so close together. The roaring laughter issuing from the Roger Pirates seemed to agree with her.

Both red-faced boys somehow managed to stand up, shouting out for Elle to stop hiding and face up to what she had done. Elle only covered her mouth and slid further into the shadows under the cape. She was safe there. The boys wouldn't dare to look for her under the cape. Crouched down and smirking to herself, Elle was gloating so hard she didn't notice when the cape was lifted off of her. She also didn't hear her victims approaching her. She only stopped grinning when both of the boys grabbed one of her cheeks and pulled.

As they were dragging Elle away to un-glue them, she called out to her betrayer, "I trusted you, Vice-Captain! Whyyyy?!"

Silvers Rayleigh just grinned, his glasses glinting evilly in the fading light.

"Noo, save meee..."

"Mama, wake up." I shifted slightly and tried to wake up, feeling my body being shook by two sets of small hands. "C'mon, Ma! You have a meeting!"

I let out a loud sigh and quickly sat up. I rubbed my face for a long moment before I gave each of my boys a kiss on the head. I didn't bother to ask how they knew about my meeting with Red-Hair; they just knew that I would not have come back up to bed before I secured it. I crawled out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. Once I had taken care of my body's needs and cleaned up, I walked back out to by bag. Wearing my towel, I stared at the contents debating what I should wear. Finally, I decided on an outfit and quickly put it on.

Eli and Sora had already gone down for breakfast, so I took a long moment to study myself in the mirror. The day was slightly cooler then the previous one, so I had put on a pair of low-slung, tight-fitting black leather pants and tucked them into the tops of my boots. The red shirt I grabbed was also tight, but only came down to my ribs. It also left my shoulders and most of my cleavage exposed, the sleeves hugging my arms tight to mid-forearm before flaring slightly. I didn't bother with a corset or waist-coat, instead settling a wide belt on my hips. I had left my hair unbound, so it flowed in loose waves unhindered.

Satisfied with what I saw, I quickly grabbed my knives from my bag. I put two in their spots on my belt before tucking the third into my boot. I walked out of the room and felt my ears pressed back against my head, my tail twitching anxiously. I jumped off and skipped the last four stairs, stopping in the main room of the bar. I only had to glance at the scowling barkeep before he told me where the twins were. I thanked him and smiled sweetly before I walked outside, my ears up once more.

I walked down to the beach, ignoring the stares that everyone I passed gave me. It seems that word of who I was had floated out from the bar. It would make my job harder in someways, but I had a feeling that it would also help in others. No matter. Nothing I could do about it, so I turned my focus onto finding the boys.

They were on the beach near the Red-Hair Pirates' ship, ringed by the crew. When I got closer, I could see them facing off against Ben. They just stood there, staring at the Vice-Captain, for a long moment. Then, they pressed their hands together and, before I could blink, they had Ben pinned to the sand. Each boy had a different weapon pressed against the older man's neck. Sora had a small dagger, the mini-version of my knives, while Eli had a kunai knife. I walked up to the group as all of the men started shouting loudly. I easily slipped through the boisterous men to crouch at Ben's head.

I rested my elbows on my knees and cradled my face in my hands. As he scowled up at me, I said, "Did you really think you could best my sons at anything, Ben?"

"I thought I at least had a chance," he muttered, sitting up after the boys had stepped back. "I just didn't expect them to be so fast." We both stood up and he gave me a hard stare. "Have you taught them that freaky World Government Shave-thing?"

"Nope," I said simply, walking over to Sora and Eli. "And they aren't that fast, especially when they're fighting. They take a long time planning out every possible move their opponent can make, and how they can counter it."

Ben's scowl deepened and he opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by his captain. "I dunno, Kitten," Red-Hair said as he sauntered out of the group of his crew. "It seemed to me that that fight went by pretty fast."

"You used to pay such close attention to everything, Shanks," I said, unable to keep the disappointment from my voice. "I would have thought you of all people would notice it."

Red-Hair glared at me ever-so-slightly as he tried to figure out what I had said. When he saw that he was getting nothing from me, he turned his gaze to the twins. Both boys were standing behind me, not quite hiding, but not stepping completely into Red-Hair's line of sight. Identical pairs of dark eyes turned to me, silently asking for permission. I shrugged. Who they told was no business of mine. Seeing that it was up to them, Sora and Eli stepped around me to face Red-Hair.

"Our fight actually lasted around fifteen minutes," Sora started, while Eli added, "But to everyone else, it was only fifteen seconds."

"And how did you two manage that?" Red-Hair took a step closer and smiled down at the boys, his tone both comforting and insisting. He really was great with kids.

"We ate the Time-Time Fruit," they both chorused, stepping back behind me.

Everyone around us just continued to stare at the boys, waiting for them to elaborate further. The twins said nothing more, though, so I stood up. I brushed off the back of my pants and turned to Red-Hair. "That's probably all they're going to tell you," I said, talking more to the crew than to the Captain. "A Devil Fruit user's biggest weapon is the unknown abilities of their Fruit, after all."

"Can I at least ask how two different people were able to eat the same Fruit?" Shanks asked with a small smile, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

I brushed the hair off of both boys' foreheads as I answered, "We don't know. I think it's because they're litter-mates—twins—that it worked out. But because they found the Fruit and thought it looked tasty, they split it in half and both ate it." I turned away from the pirate and crouched down in front of Sora and Eli. "I have something I need to discus with Mr. Red-Hair, here, so why don't you two go tell Uncle Ben about Papa? I'm sure the whole crew would love to hear about them."

Both boys broke into identical grins. They said in sync, "Theses guys know Papa?!"

I grinned back at them. "You kidding? Who do you think gave him the idea to be the next Pirate King?" I hooked a thumb back at Red-Hair and added, "Hell, this guy is the one who gave Papa his straw hat."

I stood up and watched as the boys ran over to Ben and grabbed his hand. They started pulling him away, talking almost too fast to understand. I sensed it more than saw when Red-Hair came to stand next to me. I continued to watch my boys as they dragged the Red-Hair Pirates away, even as I felt Shanks' dark eyes drilling a hole into my head. Once they were out of earshot, I asked him why he was staring at me.

"You were just talking about Straw Hat Luffy," he said slowly. "But why did you call him 'Papa'?" I turned just in time to see all of the color drain from Red-Hair's face. "Don't tell me; is Luffy their father?!"

A laugh bubbled out of my throat before I could stop it. "Oh, god, no!" I managed to choke out between giggles. "No! Luffy wasn't even eight when I first met him."

Red-Hair frowned at me. "Then why did you call Luffy 'Papa'?" he asked again.

I turned back to the direction the boys had gone off in. "Some of the other children made fun of them for not having a father, and they were crying about it. Luffy walked up to them and asked what was wrong. When he heard, he laughed and grinned at them before saying that he didn't have a Papa either." I felt a small smile tug at my lips. "And then he offered to be their Papa."

I about jumped out of my skin, and let out a small hiss, when Red-Hair abruptly started laughing. He just laughed and laughed, wheezing something about how that was just like Luffy. Once he was done, he started asking about Luffy, how he was doing and what he was up to. What he had been like as he grew up, how his Devil Fruit affected his childhood. It was nice, being able to talk to Shanks like that, like nothing had ever happened between us. It was like going back twelve years, when it was so easy to talk to him. When I could talk to him about any and everything.

Then one of us mentioned Ace, Luffy's brother. I'm not sure who it was that brought him up, but it cast a cloud over the conversation. We had both been there at the Battle of Marine Ford, both had met Ace before he was arrested. We both knew how hard it was for Luffy to lose his brother, for Garp to lose his grandson. And that brought us onto the subject that had reunited us. Red-Hair asked to see my orders again, and I silently handed him the crumpled sheet.

"Is there a reason that part of this seems crossed out, with 'Captain' added on top of it?" Red-Hair asked after a long silence.

"I was originally going to be assigned this job before I was demoted. After your little protege wiped out CP9," I said, shooting a glare his way, "I was tasked with all of their jobs. This was going to be one of them, and then Blackbeard captured Ace. Everything was kind of put on hold."

"You were demoted?" Red-Hair asked, raising one of his eyebrows. "What ever did you do, Kitten?"

I scowled up at him, but quickly turned to look away. I crossed my arms over my chest before I answered. "Violently slaughtering a group of lieutenants to save a notorious pirate usually gets one sent to Impel Down, Rear Admiral or not." I tightened my grip on my arms, feeling my claws break the skin. "Claiming that losing such an important man at the same time as Whitebeard would throw the world into even greater chaos is the only reason they kept me. Though I am now a Captain."

"Who did you save? Luffy?" I heard the soft shift of sand as Red-Hair took a step closer to me, felt the soft touch of his breath against my ears as he spoke. "What do you mean by 'violently slaughter'?"

I turned my head slightly to look at Shanks. "There was not a piece larger than my fingernail left when I was done with them," I whispered. He said nothing, but the weight of Red-Hair's stare was unbearable. I let out a small cry and turned to face him, poking his chest as I snarled, "Your back was exposed and those two idiots thought they would do the world a favor and take out another of the Four Emperors. What was I supposed to do, watch you die?! I—!"

My words were cut off by Shanks softly cupping my face. His thumb brushed across my cheek, wiping away the traitorous tears that had fallen. I closed my eyes and covered his hand with one of my own. I leaned into the pirate's touch, grabbing the front of his cloak and pulling him closer. I pressed my forehead against his chest and bit my lip, fighting the sobs that were trying to escape. I took in several deep, shuddering breaths. I took in Shanks' familiar sent, used it to settle my racing heart.

"I couldn't lose you," I said, voice barely a whisper. "Not forever."