Shanks sat up and rubbed his chin, his stomach twisting. It wasn't from the knee that Elle had just shoved into it, no. Shanks heard her muffled sobs start on the other side of the door and knew that it was his fault that she was crying. Elle was letting out deep, heavy sobs and Shanks could feel his dinner turn to lead in his gut. He remembered hearing her cry this hard only one time, a few days after Captain Roger's execution. When the blades fell, she had screamed bloody murder, but had appeared totally empty right after. A few days later, Buggy had said goodbye to the two of them and that seemed to bring all of her guilt and heartbreak to the surface. Shanks could understand why the loss of her adopted father would cause her so much grief, but he couldn't understand why she was crying that hard now.

It hadn't taken long for Cook to finished making a second dinner from the Sea King that Elle had taken down. As Cook had been working, the words that the Warlord had spoken kept chasing each other around and around in Shanks' mind. The brought one question to mind: how many men had Elle had sex with? The Warlord's words seemed to imply that the Warlord had, and Shanks knew that he certainly had. But the Warlord had said that the first time had been three years ago, specifically mentioning that it had been seven years since Shanks had. Did that mean that they were the only two? Or, even more importantly, did that make Shanks the twins' father?

"Why don't you ask her?"

Ben's voice made Shanks realize that he had said that last question out loud. He gave his vice-captain a long look before he nodded at the man. Ben had a valid point, so Shanks pushed away from the railing he had been leaning against and walking into his cabin. He could hear the twins talking animatedly to Elle, but his mind was too preoccupied to make sense of what they were saying. Without thinking too much about it, Shanks had simply opened the door and started talking. It was an act built out of familiarity that he had lost a decade ago.

The snarl on Elle's face shocked him, even as it fell away into a scowl when she realized who had interrupted her bath. She yelled at Shanks to get out, her voice higher than normal. Shanks saw panic rising in her eyes and quickly backed out of the room. His chest felt odd. She had always been comfortable enough around Shanks that being human didn't bother her. Had he tarnished her trust so badly that he couldn't see her human anymore? Shocked, Shanks leaned against the wall next to the bathroom and lightly rubbed his aching chest. After a few minutes of silence, he heard the murmured voices of the twins before a sound of beauty.

When she had been a little girl, Elle had loved to sing and dance. She had the uncanny ability to entice everyone to join her, too. Elle's voice had been something twenty years ago, but now—It was deeper, a rolling contralto. Her voice soothed, slowing Shanks' racing heart. A smile curled his lips as he recognized the song. Captain Roger had sang it to her a few times when she had first found them. She had had several wicked nightmares and the Captain's voice had soothed her to sleep. From the small laugh that she let out when she was done singing, Shanks guessed that Elle's voice had done the same to her boys.

They had stepped back into the cabin shortly after. When her feline eyes landed on Shanks, he noticed her cheeks turn pink. Without a word, she had tossed him a towel and started drying Eli's hair. Taking a hint, Shanks had started working on Sora. It was so domestic that it was calming, even as he could feel the uneasy waves roll off of Elle. All too soon, the boys were dressed and falling asleep in Ben's arms as he took them bellow deck. Suddenly without a buffer, Shanks became painfully aware that Elle wore nothing but a towel. Not even that, after she had pulled some fabric out of her bag.

Shanks inhaled a long, silent breath as the towel that had been wrapped around her body fell to the floor. Her hair was still tied up, leaving her back bare. Shanks' heart started to race as he looked at her. Elle definitely had a woman's curves and a tiny waist. But that wasn't what instantly caught and reeled in Shanks' attention. No, that honor went to her tattoos. He had been with her when she had got the first one, his jolly roger. He lightly traced the lines, a smile on his face as he happily remembered that day. But that was no longer her only tattoo.

Opposite his jolly roger, Shanks was pleased to see Captain Roger's. The fact that she had obviously gotten it as a marine almost made him laugh. He liked seeing the two jolly rogers and knowing that they were two core pillars of who Elle had become. But those two tattoos were small compared to the one that ran across the entirety of her shoulder blades. As Shanks traced the lines inked on her back he found himself asking what it was for.

Elle's voice had been soft as she answered him. It was her brothers' jolly roger, which explained the 'A' and the 'L'. Ace and Luffy. Shanks traced the 'S' and opened his mouth to ask what—or who—it stood for, but he noticed that her shoulders subtly stiffened. Okay, she didn't want to talk about that. That was fine, as something else had caught his attention. Down below his jolly roger, Shanks noticed the tail end of a yellowing bruise. Elle murmured something about her haki and Luffy, making Shanks remember that she had stood against her brother during the War.

Shanks gently maneuvered Elle around so that she was facing him. Her golden gaze held uncertainty, but she wasn't disagreeing with anything that he did. Shanks slid his hand up her side and found himself unable to keep holding her eyes. So he had looked down and felt a stirring in his groin. He could not look away as his fingers slowly moved across her body. But when he stopped at the bruise atop her left breast, Shanks felt jealousy well up inside of him. That wasn't a bruise; it was a love-bite.

Shanks met her gaze again as he asked Elle, "And this. He gave you this—didn't he?"

Her answer was more a breath of air than a word. "Yes."

Jealousy had filled his entire body and Shanks found he wanted to punish Elle. So he lightly teased her body as he spoke to her. "I remember everything about that night. Like what made your breath hitch—" rubbing the underside of her breast. "What made you make that delightful little noise—" yes, that one, as she let out a small moan when his thumb brushed across her nipple. "And what you tasted like."

Shanks was unable to hold himself back. He had kissed her roughly, enjoying the way she had welcomed him. And she had welcomed him, pulling him deeper into the kiss. So why had Elle kicked him out of the room? What had Shanks done that had upset her so much? Shanks frowned at the door to his cabin and turned away from it with a small growl. Shanks had to stop abruptly when he almost ran into his vice-captain.

"She still loves you," Ben murmured softly. "Don't forget that, Captain. This is not some game with her. It's not a competition to see who gets to have sex with Elle."

Ben turned away and left Shanks standing alone before he could respond. He let out a slow sigh and leaned back against his cabin's door. Shanks waited until her heaving sobs slowed to small sniffles before she walked away from the door. When he could no longer hear Elle crying, Shanks pushed way from the door and went to see her children.

Sora and Eli were curled up together in a hammock, Sora curled protectively around Eli. Shank smiled slightly and lightly brushed the white hair off of Sora's forehead. Asleep, he definitely was the spitting image of his mother. They both were. But when they were awake, they hardly looked like Elle at all. No, Shanks thought with a rueful smile, they look more like their father. Looking down at Eli's deep red hair, Shanks felt the reality sink in. He was the father of the twins, even if he didn't want to admit it to himself. Shanks had made a mistake letting things go too far with Elle that night, but he didn't regret it. What he regretted was sending Elle way. He had missed out on helping to raise his own children and it left a bitter taste in Shanks' mouth.

Seeing how well Elle handled the two of them, seeing how the three of them worked as a family—Shanks knew that he was not needed. And it made his heart ache deep in his chest, because Shanks knew that as soon as he helped Elle catch this bastard, he would never see his children again. Shanks wasn't sure which was worse. Being unaware of your children—

Or being aware of them but knowing that you will never see them again.

Apparently, on Mt. Corvo, you are only allowed to eat the meat that you yourself killed. Elle glared down at the pitiful bowl of rice the Ginger-haired woman named Dadan slammed down in front of her. When she had pointed out that she was eating for two, Dadan had just shrugged and said rules were rules. So Elle had asked if she caught some meat, if the bandits would cook it. When Dadan had agreed, Elle went outside and caught a deer within five minutes. That was when the two little brats of Garp's had started to take an interest in her.

The next day, Elle learned that she needed to quickly follow the boys out into the woods or Dadan would try and give her chores. She followed the two boys at a distance. Elle was trying to stay as far away from Garp's grandson as she could, as she was forbidden from killing the little shit. But she was curious about Captain's son. He seemed to hate his father, despite having never met the man. Elle revered the Captain, so she wanted to know why. When Ace had successfully lost the little shit thanks to a rock slide, Elle sped up until she was jogging next to Ace.

He had scowled at her, but didn't say anything as they ran together. When they came to a river, as they were jumping across it on some rocks, Ace had given Elle a surprise kick to the side. She fell into the water, which was thankfully pretty shallow. She was in no danger of drowning, but found herself completely unable to move in the water. The surface that she had landed on shifted around and Elle was pushed out of the water. She quickly sat up and vomited into the water. When she was done, she looked up into the mouth of a crocodile.

It was fear that made her lose control of her form, and Elle found herself to be a little kitty staring into rows and rows of sharp teeth. She let out a startled yowl as the crocodile ate her in one bite. It was dark and the acid of the beast's stomach hurt her paws. But a deep rage filled her tiny body until it exploded out. Literally. Elle shifted into her hybrid-form faster than she ever had before, making the crocodile explode around her. She flicked the remaining acid off of her hands and snarled at the shocked crocodiles surrounding her.

Elle had killed them all, and she ended up dragging a few back to the bandits' house for dinner. She called out to Dadan that she was back and ignored the shocked shouts of the bandits as she threw the two reptiles at them. She growled at Chicken-Head and Tiny-Meal that she would be taking a bath and was not to be disturbed. Washing had hurt terribly and Elle noticed that the stomach acid had burned her hands and feet pretty bad. Elle filled the tub halfway with cool water and carefully stepped in. The relief outweighed the discomfort of the water.

She had ended up falling asleep and only woke up because she smelled cooking meat. She managed to open the drain and was able to step out of the tub when it was empty. She dried off and went to put her clothing back on. Elle was shocked when she realized that it was clean and folded. There was a note placed on top of it saying that some dude named Mogura had washed them for her. Mogura... Oh, that was Chicken-Head's name. Elle quickly put on her tight-fitting white tank-top and shorts, but found herself unable to put on the rest. Her hands really hurt. Clutching the rest of her clothing to her chest, Elle hobbled into the house and sat down next to the cooking pit.

Chicken-Head and Tiny-Meal started freaking out when they saw her injuries, yelling about how they hadn't noticed with all of the crocodile blood. Dadan seemed more shocked by Elle's clean appearance than she had been by her bloody one. As Chicken-Head started treating and binding Elle's feet, Dadan commented that Elle really was a woman. Elle was confused until she looked down. Her clothing had always been really loose and baggy, but not her underclothes.

The tank-top was fitted close to Elle's chest like a second skin and ended at her ribs. Her growing breasts were clearly outlined, along with the triple scars bisecting her stomach, which was starting to swell as well. Her shorts were as tight as her top and truly worthy of the name. They were slung low on her hips, allowing her tail to rest comfortably outside of them, and they weren't any longer than the width of her hands. Both items of clothing were made out of a special material that conformed to her body, no matter which form she was in.

Elle scowled up at Dadan and muttered that of course she was a woman. Unable to take the stares of the bandits anymore, she jerked her feet out of Chicken-Head's hands. She grabbed the bandages as well and finished bandaging her feet by herself. Once that was done, Elle curled her legs up under her and started working on her hands. A ruckus sounded behind her, but the only sign that Elle had noticed were her ears turning towards the noise. She finished binding her left hand, but had to focus harder on her right. Elle had never been very good at doing things with her non-dominant hand. So when a little finger poked her back, she let out a loud shriek.

"What the hell are you doing, twerp?" she snarled, twisting to look down at Garp's Grand-Brat.

The boy gave her a wide grin and shoved Shanks' hat down further on his head. "Are you a fan of Shanks and them?" he asked excitedly.

Elle stared at him warily. She had tried to kill the kid twenty-four hours ago and yet he was calmly talking to her. "I'm not a fan," Elle said slowly. She turned around to face the brat as she started working on her hand again. "I am—was—a member."

The brat frowned at her. "Are you sure?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. "Cuz I don't remember you."

Elle snarled at the brat, but was disappointed that he didn't react. "Shanks gave me to the Old Fart before he met you," she growled.

"Huh."

The brat didn't say anything more, but was clearly still not convinced. Elle felt her hackles raise. She didn't like not having this shit believe her. So she started to tell him stories about growing up with Shanks and his crew. The brat's face lightened up and he seemed to enjoy her stories immensely. He would even comment how it was just like Lucky Roo to distract her to steal her meat or for Yassop to bet that she wasn't strong enough to last through an entire tattoo. Then he started telling Elle stories about what the Red-Hair Pirates had gotten up to while in Windmill Village.

Elle stared at the boy for a moment before she turned her head and sniffed. "You're all right, for a brat," she said roughly. "I guess I can share some of my meat with you."

The brat smiled brightly at her and started running around, shouting about meat. One of the bandits hit him on the head, but the blow just bounced right off of the kid. The Old Fart had told Elle that the boy had eaten the Gum-Gum Fruit, so he was a rubber-man. Elle had half-expected it to be a total farce, but obviously it wasn't. After just being hit on the head by a fully grown man, the little brat was still running around talking about how he wanted his meat now. Elle had to bite her lip to keep from grinning. The kid was entertaining, that was for sure.

She suddenly stood up and grabbed the knife out of the belt of the nearest bandit. She threw it right before the door opened, revealing Ace. The knife landed hilt-deep in the wall next to his head. "You little shit!" Elle shouted, grabbing more knives. "Because of you, I was eaten!"

She threw the knives one after the other and all but the last one missed the shit. The last one grazed his cheek, right bellow his wide eyes. "What the hell?" he shouted back, pressed against the wall. "I did not!"

"You pushed me into crock-infested water! What did ya expect to happen!" Elle grabbed one last knife and threw it behind her. The brat behind her stopped laughing and yelled at her for almost hitting him. "I don't miss!" she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yassop taught me, so I have incredible aim. If I wanted to hit ya, I would've."

Elle could hear the brat gulp behind her. The little shit in front of her mirrored Elle's stance and scoffed. "It's you're own fault if you're dumb enough to get eaten," he said with an evil smirk. "By the way, I know they're big, but they're not that big, so how'd a crock eat you?"

Elle turned away from him, even as she felt her cheeks heat. "It's none of your business." The shit scoffed again and Elle snarled, throwing herself at him.

With a groan, I pushed myself up off of the floor and rubbed my sore head. I glared at the wood before I untangled my legs from the sheets. I wish I could say that was the first time I've woken myself up by acting out my dreams, but I pride myself on not lying. Once free of the accursed sheet, I threw it on the bed before I peeled out of my yukata. I took care of my bodily needs and splashed some water on my face. The dark circles underneath them looked very nice next to my puffy, red eyes. I snarled at the mirror and stalked out of the bathroom.

I fixed my hair into a tighter braid and changed into my usual workout clothing. I put on my best bra before pulling on my older tank-top. Despite being older than my children, the top had only faded into more of a gray than white and had fully retained its form and stretchy-ness. My shorts, on the other hand, had died years ago. They were not the only casualty when Dogra had to do the laundry when Mogura came down with a severe cold. So I had begged and pleaded (read: threatened and annoyed) the Old Fart until he had bought me a knew pair. The new ones even matched the new color of the tank-top.

I quickly taped up my hands and feet before I walked out of the cabin. The sun was just starting to rise, so the ship was silent. I spotted Yassop leaning against the main mast, obviously on watch, and gave him a quick wink as I opened the door to the crew's quarters. It didn't take me long to look over the large room of snoring males before I found the twins curled up together in a hammock. They were both snoring slightly and Eli had drooled a little in his brother's hair, making a spot of Sora's white hair slightly darker.

"Aw, so cute~," I whispered as I looked down at them. "Sleep time's over, time to train!" I abruptly shouted as I flipped the hammock over.

The twins both screamed as they fell into the hammock bellow them, along with multiple others. The twins started whining until they took one look at my face. The boys let out identical sighs before murmuring that they'd meet me up on the deck. I gave them both a kiss on the forehead before I skipped out of the room. When I was on the deck, I started doing some stretches. I watched as members of the crew slowly started filing out onto the deck. I received more than one appreciative look as I continued my stretching. Most Marines who had seen me stretch before had given me similar looks, so it was easy enough to ignore them.

The twins came out onto the deck and I smiled widely at their scowls. My smile faltered when Shanks appeared behind them. I quickly turned my face down to the deck and breathed in deep, the smell of salt and wood filling my lungs. As I released my breath, I pulled myself up straight and rolled out of my split. I rolled my shoulders before walking over to the twins. Ignoring Shanks, I told them to stretch so that they wouldn't hurt themselves as we worked. Shanks was staring hard at me, making my skin crawl. Finally, I turned to him and asked why he was staring at me.

"Did you fall out of bed this morning?" I blinked several times before giving Shanks a confused scowl. He reached up and lightly brushed my forehead, saying, "because you have a bruise on your forehead."

I felt my face turn bright red and quickly smacked his hand away. Shanks started chuckling at me, so I snarled at him before turning back to the twins. They were both covering each others mouths and their shoulders were shaking with the effort it was taking them not to laugh. I snapped at them to get back to their stretching or I was going to increase their workout. Both boys instantly sobered, their dark eyes going wide, before quickly resuming their stretching.

While the twins moved through the movements I had just finished, I climbed up part of the rigging. Making sure I was still safely over the deck, I twisted my legs around the rope and let go. Hanging upside down, I called out for Yassop to toss my bag up to me. I caught the green zebra-stripped bag by the white strap and held it with both my arms straight above my head. Keeping my elbows locked, I started doing sit-ups. When I reached twenty-five, my feet had gone numb. When I hit fifty, my arms started to shake. At seventy-five, my stomach was getting sore. At one hundred, I dropped the bag onto the deck and grabbed onto the rigging. I de-tangled my legs and, with a quick flip, landed on the deck in a perfect Y.

I turned back to the twins and felt my lips split into a wide grin. "Now," I said to them, placing my hands on my hips, "time to get started!"

It was my turn to laugh when they both let out resigned groans.

Shanks and the rest of his crew watched in silence as Elle did her sit-ups. It was simply amazing watching her muscles flex as she curled up and touched her toes and release as she slowly relaxed. The movement was fluid and graceful despite the quick pace. Shanks had counted over seventy sit-ups before he saw the first beads of sweat appear on her skin. As he watched her uncurl, a single drop rolled down her nose and up over the small blue spot on her forehead. Earlier, when she had approached the twins, Shanks had spotted the bruise and couldn't keep his amusement to himself.

When Elle had been younger, she would often act out her dreams and injured herself on more than one occasion. Seeing the bruise on her forehead, Shanks asked if she had fallen out of bed again. Her face turned bright red as she gave him an outraged stare, confirming Shanks' guess that she hadn't grown out of her vivid dreams. The twins also appeared amused by her reaction, making Shanks think that it was something that happened a lot. Elle had glared at Shanks before snapping at the boys to stretch if they didn't want her to increase their workout. Sora and Eli had appeared terrified of the prospect, perking Shanks' curiosity. How bad were her workouts to inspire such fear?

That was why Shanks found himself watching the Cat-Woman as she did her sit-ups. She uncurled and dropped her bag in one swift movement before rolling into another sit up. Her bag landed on the deck with a heavy thunk! as she grabbed onto the rigging around her feet. Elle quickly untangled herself from the rope and kicked her legs over her head. That sent her into a beautiful front-flip and she landed gracefully on the deck with her arms extended straight above her head. The smooth movement brought attention to her body and Shanks found himself unbalanced.

When she had been little, she had often shifted between her Hybrid- and Cat-forms, bringing up the problem of clothing. Her constant shifting meant she was naked more often than not, so the Roger Pirates had quickly started looking for clothing that she could wear in every form. The result had been a stretchy fabric turned into a tank-top and shorts that Elle had worn underneath her clothing. When she had first got it, the shirt fit her torso perfectly and the shorts fell to her mid-thighs. As she grew taller, she was still able to wear them (because they were so stretchy), but they became increasingly shorter. The last time Shanks had seen them, the top ended just above her bellybutton and the shorts at the tops of her thighs. But that had been ten years ago.

Now the tank-top barely reached her ribs, more breast-band than shirt. The shorts were—indeed—very short, not even reaching her thighs in the front and giving one a delightful taste of her perky ass. The clothing—or, rather, lack thereof—screamed at Shanks just how much Elle had changed in the past decade. Last night he had noticed her body was different, but seeing her in the light, he noticed just how much. He knew it was still Elle's, had the same scars across her belly and tattoo on her back. But her waist was small, her hips wide and breasts large. But Shanks also noticed that he could see several of her ribs and her hip bones were clearly visible above her shorts. As he stared at her, Shanks watched sweat roll down her back, sliding over noticeable vertebrae. Shanks definitely enjoyed looking at her, but he had a small nagging part that wondered if she had always been so skinny.

Shanks was tempted to ask about her weight, but thought better of it when she gave him a sharp glare. She sniffed before looking down at her boys. Placing her fists on her sharp hips, the grin she gave the twins could be described as nothing short of demonic. "Now, time to get started!" she said, way too much enthusiasm in her voice than anyone should have so early in the morning. She laughed when the boys groaned, an evil glint in her yellow eyes.

Before Shanks could blink, all three of them dropped to the deck and started doing push-ups. Shanks counted eighty-four before he lost track, and still they kept going. After a few minutes had passed, the boys rolled onto their backs and bent their knees. Elle pushed herself into a sitting position and held Sora and Eli's feet down as they started doing their own crunches. After another couple of minutes, they were done and the three of them stood up. Elle held her arms out straight and the boys jumped up and grabbed on. Eli was on the right and Sora was on the left. Shanks felt his eyes widen as Elle started doing lunges across the length of the deck as the boys did pull-ups on her arms.

On her third lap, Shanks noticed most of his crew stopping to watch the Cat-Woman's progress. On her fifth, there wasn't a mouth closed. On her eighth and final lap, the crew was watching with their eyes almost popping out of their heads. The twins dropped from her arms and flopped down on the deck, breathing hard. Elle brushed the back of her hand over her forehead, wiping off the sweat. Her face was flushed and her cat-eyes had a contented glint. Her full mouth was open as she breathed heavily, showing the small hint of her fangs. Shanks had seen her look like that before, ten years ago—And, dammit, now he needed a cold shower. He was too damn old to be pitching tents left and right like a teenager.

"Now that we're warmed up," Elle said, her voice breaking the harsh silence that had fallen on the ship, "Let's—"

"Wait just a second, Kitty-Cat," Yassop said, stepping up to Elle. "That was just a warm up?"

Elle gave Yassop a long, level stare and rested her hands on her hips. "Yes?" she answer, though her voice held a questioning tone. "Do you think I was too easy on them? I toned it down since we haven't had a full workout in about a month."

"THAT WAS TONED DOWN?!" every man shouted, their eyes literally popping out of their skulls.

Elle's eyes widened and she took a wary step back. Before she could answer, the twins glared at the crew. Sora said, "Don't give her any ideas," and Eli added, "Mama hardly ever goes this easy on us."

"THAT'S NOT EASY!" the men shouted, holding out their hands.

Elle covered her mouth and turned away from everybody. Her thin shoulders—Shanks was really starting to get worried, as the longer he looked at her the skinnier she seemed—started to shake. Shanks took a hesitant step towards Elle and held up his hand, but she shocked him enough that the pirate Captain fell back on his ass.

"Nyahahaha!" Elle burst out, unable to hold her laughter in any longer. She clutched her stomach and leaned over, still laughing even as she gasped for air. After several minutes, Elle sobered enough to say, "You guys obviously have never trained with the Old Fart."

"Was Garp strict?" Shanks asked, pulling himself back to his feet.

The laughter faded from Elle's face as she glanced at Shanks. Did he guess wrong that Garp was the 'Old Fart' she mentioned? He had remembered her calling Garp that several times when she was younger, but that didn't mean that was what she still called him. "In a sense," Elle finally answered. "No one can escape his Fist of Love, after all. But all of the boys said I was the worse teacher."

All of the boys? Did she mean her twins, Luffy, and Ace? Before Shanks could ask, Eli said, "Coby called her an old hag one time—"

"—and Mama made him run until he physically couldn't anymore," Sora finished.

Everyone turned and stared at Elle, which made her blush slightly. "It would have been worse if it was Helmeppo," she blurted. "At least I know Coby didn't mean it."

"Who are Coby and Helmeppo?" Shanks asked. He heard his men shout that that wasn't the right question, but he just ignored them.

"The Old Fart's apprentices," Elle answered, tugging her hair free. She pulled it up into a tail before spinning it around and around until she was left with a tight coil and tied it in place. She glanced at Shanks and added, "You've met Coby."

An apprentice Marine that Shanks had already met? Was she talking about that boy from Marineford, the pink-haired one not older than Luffy? Thinking back, Shanks remembered that a voice had shouted that name right as Shanks blocked Akainu. Elle looked fond of the two apprentices when she mentioned them. On a much smaller scale than when Shanks had seen her talk about Luffy, but fond nonetheless. It appeared that she like the two boys, enjoyed training them. Shanks felt his brows furrow as he frowned. Elle had seemed fond whenever she talked about her job as a Marine. He felt her hostility towards Shanks for being sent away. But did she resent becoming a Marine?

Shanks stared at the Cat-Woman and wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer. If he had found her shortly after she left and asked her to come back, Shanks knew that she would have accepted in a heartbeat. If he had asked her three years ago on that fateful night, Shanks felt that she would have declined. Three years ago, his little Hell Cat would have chosen to remain as the Benineko. If Shanks were to walk up to Elle right now and ask her to stay with him—forget about her orders and just become a pirate again—how would she respond?

Would she be happy and accept? Would she scoff and act like she didn't want to, but join anyway? Or would she tell him no? As Shanks watched his Kitten smile and fondly brush the hair out of their twins' eyes, he was certain that he did not want to know the answer.

At least, not yet.

A/N: Ten chapters. Wow. I don't think I've ever written a fanfic this long, so thank you for sticking around! Lately, I've felt so inspired to write both this and my novel and it has been wonderful!

This chapter is the longest one I've ever posted, almost 10 pages in Word. But it is only so long because the first spot I considered stopping at was only about 2,000 words or so and I felt that was too short. And then I just got sucked into writing that next thing I knew it was almost 6,000! So I hope you guys enjoy this super chapter!

~Shini