A/N: On 12/21/2016, I updated Chapter 3. In it, I changed Elle's pirate name from 'Hell Spawn' to 'Hell Cat' and when she had originally met Luffy and Ace. This changed the story significantly, so I recommend re-reading that chapter!

Shanks leaned against the railing of his ship and calmly observed the two children crouched before him. Elle slept soundly next to him, her head in his lap and her body curled into a ball. He was softly petting her hair, barely aware of the movement. They had been on the ship for almost two days now, and the Cat Woman still slept. Shanks knew that if she was asleep before boarding a ship, Elle's body would continue to sleep until the worst of her sea sickness passed. Shanks had stayed with Elle the entire time, knowing she slept sounder with him near.

When they had boarded the ship after Shanks and Elle, the twin boys had dug around in her bag until they pulled out an Eternal Pose. They handed it to the navigator and told him that was the last island their quarry had been spotted at. When asked how they came by that information, Sora and Eli had only said that their mother had contacts all over the Grand Line and had kept a close watch on the man for the past decade. Before Shanks could ask more questions, the boys had scurried off to explore his ship. They had spent most of that day wandering around, reminding Shanks of their mother when she had first boarded the Oro Jackson. Well, after her sea sickness had passed.

But their explorations had only lasted so long, and this morning Shanks had found himself under close watch. Finally, Shanks was unable to bare their silent stares any longer and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No," they both said in unison. The redhead—Eli?—added, "We're just confused."

"Confused? Why?" Shanks said, feel a cold sweat break out across his skin. His hand softly rubbed Elle's ear when she let out a small whimper in her sleep.

Two sets of dark eyes glanced down at their mother before turning back to Shanks. "How is it," Eli started with Sora finishing, "That Mama is so relaxed around you?"

Shanks frowned at the boys. "What do you mean?" He glanced down at Elle. "Is this unusual? Because she's always done this."

"What's unusual is how deeply she's sleeping. That means she trusts you," Sora said. Eli added, "There are very few people Mama relaxes around.

"We know all of them," they said at the same time, "and you are not one."

They moved closer to their mother, Eli reaching out to touch her. Before anyone could blink, Elle reached out and grabbed her son. Her hands tightly grabbed his and her lip lifted in a snarl. Both boys paled at the sight of their mother. Eli started crying out when Sora ran forwards. He sharply hit Elle's wrists, causing her hands to reflexively open. He caught his brother and they both quickly scrambled out of their mother's reach. Shanks had been too shocked by her sudden violence to do anything, but it seemed like the twins had experienced this before.

Elle let out a loud gasp and her eyes abruptly opened. She glanced at the boys' faces and her expression crumbled. Elle opened her mouth and reached out to them, but then her face turned a fantastic shade of green. She quickly turned and threw herself at the rail. Shanks, expecting this, managed to grab hold of the back of her harness and kept her from falling into the ocean. He listened patiently to the sounds of her gagging and dry heaving before she pulled herself back over.

Elle slumped down next to Shanks and rested her head against his shoulder. She held her arms open and the twins obediently sat between her legs and leaned back against her. Elle wrapped her arms around them. She didn't ask what had happened, just rubbed her face on each boy's head. "What're you two doing?" she asked after a long moment.

"Questioning this old man," they chorused.

Elle let out a small chuckle and started brushing their hair back over their foreheads. "What questions are you asking Old Man Shanks here?" she asked, her voice rumbling slightly with a small purr.

"Why you're so comfortable around him," Sora said, with Eli adding, "You're never this relaxed around anyone."

Elle's hands briefly paused before she resumed her stroking. "Shanks is special," she answered slowly. "Even if it's been a decade since I've seen him, I still trust him more than anybody else."

Shanks felt his chest swell with happiness, as it always had since the first time she had heard him say that. Before Shanks could say anything, both boys asked, "If you trust him so much, how come you're so mad at him?"

Elle's hands stopped completely at that. "Well," she said, straightening up and lifting her head from his shoulder. Shanks felt the loss acutely. "I trust Shanks, but I also hate him more than almost anybody."

"Why?" the twins and Shanks said, all three turning to look at Elle. She resolutely kept her amber gaze off of Shanks.

"See, this old man here not only broke my heart," she said softly, "but he gave me away." She swallowed and clenched her jaw. "Among other things."

"I didn't give you away," Shanks grumbled, gritting his teeth. "I let you go somewhere safe."

"You gave me to the Marines, even though I was a wanted pirate," she snapped, finally turning to glare at him. Shanks watched as the boys slipped out of her grasp. "You gave me away."

"You were a kid!" Shanks exclaimed. "And the Grand Line is no place for children!"

"A kid?" she growled, her pale brows lifting. Elle pursed her lips, her nostrils flaring. Finally, she stood up and turned to Shanks' sniper. "Yasop, why don't you go show the boys the canons?"

The twins started to say they had already seen them, but Yasop knew what Elle was implying. The sniper grabbed a boy under each arm and took them below decks. When they had disappeared from sight, Elle turned back to Shanks. "I grew up on the Grand Line, Shanks, so what worked on Luffy doesn't work for me," she growled. "That is a paltry excuse for what you did."

"The way you're reacting tells me that I did the right thing," Shanks said softly, rolling to his feet. "You were too young for what we did."

"No, Luffy was too young. I had already seen and done much worse, and you know it."

Shanks felt his anger rising. "Maybe that is why I had Garp take you," he snapped. "I didn't want you to see any more."

Elle narrowed her eyes. "No," she whispered, "you gave me to Garp so you wouldn't have to face what we did that night."

Shanks felt the tether on his anger snap. "Yes, maybe I did!" he shouted, stalking up to Elle. "You might not think so, but you were still a minor, and I took advantage of you!"

Elle laughed at this. And not her normal, deep laugh, but a bitter chuckle. "If anyone took advantage of the situation, it was me," she said darkly. Seeing his furrowed brows, Elle continued, "I knew full well what we were doing, Shanks."

"How could you have known?" he growled back. "You were still a kid and I was the adult. I should have known better."

"It was my fourth attempt," she said abruptly, shocking Shanks into silence. "The first one, I got you too drunk and you ended up passing out before I could make my move. Attempt number two ended with me getting too drunk and you having to take care of me. My third attempt neither one of us got drunk, but somehow Ben ended up smashed."

"Attempt..." Shanks trailed off. "You wanted that to happen...?"

Elle's cheeks turned bright pink. "Like I said," she said, turning away from him, "I knew what I was doing."

Shanks thought back on that night.

The News Coo circled down to the deck at Shanks' wave and handed him a paper in exchange for a coin. He held the paper and started skimming the articles. They had recently been in a heavy battle with the Marines, so Shanks was looking to see if anyone's bounty had increased. When he got to the middle of the paper, a few pages fluttered down to the deck. He tucked the newspaper under one arm and crouched down to pick them up. It was the most recently released Wanted Posters.

The first one that caught his eye was for one Fishman named Arlong; his Poster stated that the Fishman had recently been captured and taken to Impel Down. The second one brought a wide grin to his face. It was of a girl with short white hair fanning around her face, her cat ears perked forwards. She was glaring at the camera with her hand up to her mouth and her tongue just pushing past her fangs. It would have been a cute picture, were it not for the fact that the girl was covered in blood. Having been there at the time it was taken, Shanks knew that not a drop of that blood was her own.

Looking down from the picture, Shanks read the text at the bottom:

WANTED: Dead or Alive

Hell Cat Elle

of the Red-Hair Pirates

B 28,000,000

28 million Berry was an impressive first bounty, and Shanks knew Elle would be proud. He glanced up to see what she was doing. The sight of her made Shanks chuckle; if only the Marines could see his Hell Cat now. She was curled up on the fore-deck in her Cat Form, sleeping with her front paws wrapped around her fluffy tail. Shanks quietly walked over to her and sat down. When he set his hand on her side, Elle sighed deeply and rolled onto her back so that he could rub her stomach. If it wasn't for the loud purrs rolling out of her chest, Shanks would have thought she was a dog.

"Hey, little one," he said softly, giving her a small shake. One sleepy amber eye opened up to peer at him. "Got a birthday present for you from our dear friends, the Navy."

Elle rolled over, shifting into her normal form as she sat up. She rubbed her eye with the heel of one hand and ran the other through her messy hair. She was wearing only a band of white wrapped around her chest and a pair of white shorts. Both items of clothing were incredibly stretchy, forming to her body even in her full cat-form. Shanks picked up the shirt that Elle had been laying on and handed it to her. She pulled it over her head before giving Shanks a small smile.

"Wha'dya mean, a present from the Navy?" she mumbled. In response, Shanks held up her Wanted Poster. All sleep vanished from her being as she lunged towards Shanks. The force of her movement sent Shanks crashing backwards, with her on top of him. Elle snatched the paper from his hand as she sat on his stomach. A wide grin spread across her face, highlighting her small fangs. "I'm wanted!" she shouted excitedly.

Elle glanced down at him before she reached down and abruptly hugged Shanks. Her laughter was infectious and Shanks couldn't help but join in with her. He sat up and wrapped his arms around Elle. She pulled back from their embrace and grinned at him. She leaned forwards and lightly pressed her lips against his. Elle had been getting more and more affectionate in the recent months, and often had given him small kisses her and there. But that kiss was different, felt different even as she pulled back again. Her cheeks were tinted pink and she gave him a small smile.

Shanks hadn't thought anything about that kiss, just figured that she was finally completely comfortable around him. But he had obviously been wrong.

Shanks scowled down at Elle and ran his hand through his hair. "That doesn't matter," he said quietly. "I should have stopped before anything happened."

"Tch," Elle clicked her tongue and looked away from him. "That's not the point, Shanks. You still gave me away."

Shanks couldn't help the growl he made. "Yes, I gave you away!" he shouted, not caring that his crew was slowly gravitating onto the deck. "But, evidently, it was the best choice, as you stayed with the Marines."

Elle's shoulders stiffened and her tail stopped its angry swishing. "What?" she asked quietly.

"You knew where we would be," Shanks answered, just as quiet. "We stayed on Dawn Island for much longer than we needed to. The handcuffs Garp put you in had no effect on you, so you could have easily escaped and come back to us." Shanks ground his teeth together. "You didn't. Hell, you didn't even try to contact us this past decade!"

The look Elle gave him was worse than a punch to the gut. Her mouth had opened slightly and her eyebrows had furrowed. She looked appalled and hurt at his words, but what really got Shanks were the tears in her eyes. Elle's lip quivered a couple times before any expression on her face was carefully wiped away. She looked like the woman Shanks had seen at Marine Ford: emotionless and empty. Elle took in a deep breath before she calmly spoke to him.

"You're right."

A/N: I know this chapter is kind of short, but I found this a nice place to end it. To make up for it, I am also posting Chapter 8! Also, FLASHBACKS! I love them and you will be seeing many, many more as I have several ideas of events that influenced Elle and Shanks and how they act, but don't fit into the main story. I love reading your feedback and encouragements, so feel free to review! As always, I hope you enjoyed!

~Shini