Shanks heard a door open behind him, but he really didn't feel like seeing who had just arrived—not when he could watch Elle instead. Her breathing was finally returning to normal, even if her legs still twitched every few seconds. Her beautiful eyes were hidden under the arm she had thrown over her face, but the small smile she had could only be described as content.

When the kid had finished in her mouth, he had fallen to the side. Laying next to Elle as he too caught his breath, the kid also had a content smile on his face. But Shanks didn't care about him. Despite having just orgasmed, Shanks was almost ready to go again. Watching as Elle's breasts jiggled with every shaky breath, Shanks couldn't keep himself from sliding his hand up from where he had bruisingly gripped her hip to cup one. Her breath caught as Shanks softly massaged it before catching her nipple between his forefinger and thumb. Tugging slightly, Shanks smirked as he was able to coax a small moan from her throat.

The sound caught the kid's attention. Seeing what Shanks was doing, he licked his lips and sat up. The kid had two hands and could give equal attention to both of Elle's breasts, so Shanks slid his hand back down her body with only a small amount of hesitation. Lightly running his fingers down her ribs, her stomach to her thigh, Shanks gently guided her legs to open once more. The sight that greeted Shanks made him groan, loud and low.

Fuck was it hot seeing his seed spill from her. Even if a small part of Shanks knew it wasn't all his, it was still hot. Gripping her thigh tightly, Shanks quickly lowered his head between her legs. His tongue had just touched the sensitive button at the top of her sex when a voice cleared behind him.

The growl Shanks let out was echoed by the kid and amplified by Elle. He obviously wasn't the only one who heard the newcomer and was completely pissed off at the interruption. If the interloper was smart, he would've heard the sound and left. So Shanks returned to his task only to be interrupted by yet another throat being cleared, this one followed by a cough. Moving almost as one, all three of them sat up and turned to glare at their unwanted visitors.

Of course, it was Brutus. He was surrounded by that girl Reiniko and several guards, with Shiichiro several paces behind the group. Unashamed of his nudity, Shanks simply propped his arm against his bent leg and scowled at the group. Behind him, the kid growled at the group and asked what the hell they wanted. One thing's for sure, Shanks never had to do much talking when around the kid and Elle.

"Sorry to interrupt," Brutus said, sounding anything but contrite, "but I need to perform some tests on Kuniko before you can continue."

Shanks' scowl deepened, but before he could say anything, the kid yelled, "The hell you will!"

Brutus' smile fell at the outburst and all of his guards aimed their guns at the group. "You'll find, Captain Kid, that you do not have a choice in the matter."

Shanks slowly stood up and smiled slightly, pleased to see the men start to tremble. "Do you really think you have any power over us?" he asked politely.

Brutus paled slightly, but covered it with an angry scowl. "I know I do," the man snarled. "Because as we speak, I have men collecting your children."

It took all of Shanks' willpower not to unleash his Conqueror's Haki and be done with the whole mess. It was the kid's outright laughter that allowed Shanks to keep his control. "Like your men could possibly take on mine!" he said giddily. "Better get started on digging their graves instead of waiting for them to return with the brats."

There was no hesitation in his voice, only absolute certainty. Most captains had faith in their crew, but Shanks could tell that the kid believed in his crew to the very marrow of his bones. And considering that, like Luffy, two of the members of the Kid Pirates were members of the so-called Worst Generation, Shanks knew that that faith wasn't unwarranted. So he smirked and added, "You heard the man."

Brutus' face turned red as his anger grew. He opened his mouth and started to yell, but Shanks would never know what the asshole was going to say. Because just as he started to speak, his men all started falling. One by one, they cried out and fell to the ground, their bodies all covered in blood. A blur of white and blue moved between all of the men, leaving a trail of blood and bodies behind. When Brutus, Reiniko, and Shiichiro were the only enemies left standing, the blur stopped before Shanks and the kid.

It was Elle.

From behind, Shanks could only tell that she was now clothed. The white jacket she had on her shoulders fell to her calves, the rolled cuffs a dark blue and the shoulder tassels golden. Her white hair fell unbound down her back, but Shanks could just barely make out the kanji for Feline Justice running down the spine of the coat. As he watched, Elle flung her hand down, a spray of crimson blood covering the floor in an arc. She then raised her hand to her face, and though he couldn't see it, he knew she was licking the remaining blood off her fingers.

"As much as I know you love to hear yourself talk, Brutus, I have a job to do," she said coolly. "So how about we get to it?"

When the door opened, I could have cried. The feeling of LB's hands on my breasts and Shanks' tongue on my clit was fucking heaven. I never wanted it to stop, and whoever was interrupting us was making it stop.

I no longer felt that intense, almost painful, need coursing through my body, but I was still turned on. We were just getting started, so there was no way in hell I wanted to stop. Obviously, Shanks and LB felt the same, because LB instantly started kneading my breasts again and Shanks' tongue flicked over my clit once more. But then we were interrupted again. I could feel the anger emanating from Shanks and LB, mixing with my own.

As one, we all sat up and glared at whoever was daring enough to interrupt us. If glares could kill, the entire group would be nothing but ashes. But nope, fucking Brutus and his fucking guards were still standing there. As fucking Brutus opened his annoying fucking mouth, I shifted to a crouch, ready to pounce on him. Forget my mission—the World Government could go fuck itself—I got ready to slaughter the man. There was a reason why I was called the Benineko, and I was about to give everyone a first-hand look at how I received that epithet.

But movement to my left caught my attention before I could attack.

I turned and saw Kiri-Chan. Seeing he had my attention, Kiri-Chan quickly dropped something into a shadow while Brutus smugly talked. As soon as the object hit the shadow, it appeared next to me. I looked down to see it was a box with My Troublesome Granddaughter scrawled across it. I rolled my eyes and quickly tore into the box, totally disregarding the note that was inside. No matter how many times I expressed my disdain to the man, Garp still insisted on calling me his granddaughter. I couldn't really complain about it per se, as it was technically true. He was the grandfather of my boys I considered my brothers. By the logic that the brother of my brother is mine, the grandfather of my brother is also mine.

Whatever. Grandfather or not, the Old Fart had sent me what I asked for. I pulled out the navy pants first, quickly pulling them on. The white shirt was similar to what your average marine wore, but was tighter and only buttoned halfway over my chest, ending right at my hip bones. Pulling it on pulled my disheveled hair the rest of the way out of the tie, making it cascade around my face. Impatiently blowing a few white strands out of my face, I pulled on my knee-high black leather boots. Finally, I pulled out the large white coat and secured it to my shoulders, the magnets in it clicking against the ones in my shirt.

I hated my official uniform. The last time I had worn it was during the War of the Best. After the war, I had gone back to my quarters to clean up while Doffy completed some job he had been given. I had discarded my entire outfit on the floor of my bathroom before I showered. When the boys and I had returned to HQ a few weeks later, there had been no trace of my uniform, of which I was glad. After that day, I had never wanted to wear it again.

I think the Old Fart had had the entire outfit thrown out, as the one I was now wearing was an older version. My first, I think, if the way it barely fit over my tits was any indication. I didn't have fond memories of this one either, but at least I knew the brother who had died while I wore this uniform was still physically alive. But my personal feelings had no bearing on why I was wearing the damn uniform. I knew that it would piss Brutus off to find out that I was such a well-known marine and he hadn't known.

Wanting to see the look on his face, but still pissed off that my time with Shanks and Kid had been interrupted, I quickly killed the guards. Using shave and finger pistol, it was easy to move from man to man to man. When the last one fell, I landed between Shanks and Brutus. He's strong, strong enough to take on Brutus, even butt-ass naked, but I didn't want to take even the smallest chance that Shanks could get injured. The habit of protecting Shanks was hard to break, even if it had been over a decade since I had fallen into that role.

"As much as I know you love to hear yourself talk, Brutus, I have a job to do. So how about we get to it?"

Meeting his gaze, I smirked at Brutus as I flung the excess blood off of my hand. I had moved quickly enough to keep my uniform clean and didn't want to risk messing it up. After all, it would comfort the townsfolk when they realized that a high-ranking marine had finally brought Brutus into custody. Being covered in blood would only make it worse. So I was very careful not to let a drop of blood touch my shirt as I licked the remainder off.

"Wh-What is the meaning of this?" Brutus snapped, trying to sound tough, but fear still made his voice tremble.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked, stretching my arms over my head. "I'm arresting you."

Brutus scowled and Hebi-Chan snapped, "How the hell are you going to arrest him? You have to be authorized by the World Government to be able to do that!"

I tilted my head and smirked widely. Pointing a thumb at my chest, I said giddily, "Marine Rear-Admiral Portgas Elle at your service!" I took a dramatic bow, saying as I stood back up, "Though you'll probably know me better as the Benineko."

Shiichiro couldn't wipe the smile off of his face before Master looked at him. "What is the meaning of this, Shiichiro?" Master growled. "You told me you lost track of Kuniko when she was arrested ten years ago. You never mentioned that she became a marine!"

Shiichiro had two choices: he could pretend that he hadn't known and spare himself from the worst of Master's wrath. Or he could reveal his rebellion. One glance at Neko-Chan's raised eyebrow made his decision an easy one. He could spare himself the wrath that would never land, or relish in the look of utter betrayal on Master's face. It was an easy decision.

"I lied."

The pain was immediate, starting before he had even finished speaking. Shiichiro felt the prongs pierce his skin the same moment that electricity started searing along his nerves. Dimly, he was aware of hands closing around his bicep. Of flying through the air, the slight pressure making the electricity almost more intense. Then a weird pressure fighting with the electricity, pushing deep into his chest.

But then it was over. No pain, no shocks, no pressure. No collar.

Gasping loudly, Shiichiro opened his eyes in time to see the remnants of his collar disintegrating in Red-Hair's hand. He had heard, once, that those with the Color of the Conquering King Haki could remove the slave collars that the Celestial Dragons used. But he hadn't thought that, A, it was true, nor, B, that the same principle could be applied to his collar as well.

Still panting slightly, Shiichiro managed to shakily climb to his feet. Meeting the cool gaze of Neko-Chan, he nodded slightly before turning back to Master. Baring his teeth, Shiichiro snarled, "I chose loyalty to Neko-Chan over you the moment I saw an article from the East Blue with a picture of her in a Navy uniform."

Sensing his gaze, Shiichiro glanced at Red-Hair. The man was giving him an assessing glare, but looked pleased at his declaration. That boded well for Shiichiro-it had been his only fear in revealing his true motives. There was no doubt in his mind that Neko-Chan would kill him if Shiichiro proved to be a true threat to either Red-Hair or her children. But he also hadn't doubted that she would kill him if Red-Hair asked her to. That he was seemingly giving Shiichiro his approval eased any lingering worries that had been swirling around in his gut.

Shiichiro had revealed his cards and placed his final bet. He'd always been a great gambler, so here's hoping that his luck held out.

I couldn't hide my smirk when Brutus dragged his disbelieving glare from Kiri-Chan to me. I'm not sure what surprised him more—Kiri-Chan's deception, or Shanks managing to completely destroy the collar that had been controlling him.

When I had escaped Brutus all those years ago, the only collar we had worn had been to attach us to our cages. But when I had first seen Hebi-Chan, and then Kiri-Chan, I had instantly noted the resemblance between their collars and those worn by World Government slaves. They were different, yes—these collars seemingly causing pain rather than exploding outright—but the premise was the same: control.

I'd seen Rayleigh take off and destroy countless numbers of slave collars over the years with his haki. Knowing Shanks was just as skilled as my former Vice-Captain, it had been a no-brainer to grab Kiri-Chan and send him that way. And Shanks had been thinking on the same wavelength, removing the collar before I could even open my mouth to ask.

With one of his two remaining henchmen firmly a deserter, Brutus turned to glare at Hebi-Chan. Her green serpentine gaze met mine and I could sense her hesitation.

When we had fought before, she hadn't known who I was. As children, I had always been stronger than her. Hebi-Chan's Devil Fruit made her ideal for infiltrating stealthily, so Brutus had honed that with his experiments. And her body's rejection of the Sea Prism Stone implants just made him focus more on honing those natural inclinations.

But me?

Even as a child younger than Sora and Eli, younger even than Luffy had been when I first met him, I had excelled at combat. I was born to fight, and my Devil Fruit just made it easier. My body accepted half of the Sea Prism Stone Brutus forced upon me, giving me deadly claws that couldn't be shielded against. Brutus had forced me to fight his grown guards as experiments—experiments that Hebi-Chan had had front-row seats to from her small cage.

That knowledge and experience meant she knew I was a force to be reckoned with. That alone would've told her that she was facing a rough fight. But I had watched her just as intently as I had Brutus when I introduced myself. Had seen the exact moment that she connected that the Neko-Chan she had seen as a child and the jilted lover who had ripped her arm clean off were the same as the Benineko—the most vicious marine in the history of the World Government.

Hebi-Chan was many thing, but stupid wasn't one of them.

Shaking her head, she took two steps back. "I'm not fighting her." Seeing the growing rage on Brutus' face, she said harsher, voice shaking, "Punish me if you must, but I won't do it! I have one arm, and couldn't beat her with two! What do you expect me to do?"

"I expect you to die for me!" Brutus snarled, gesturing at her.

Seeing a small gadget in his hand, I assumed that was what controlled the collars. Using shave, I was before him in an instant. I wrapped my hand around his fist, breaking the bones as my claws dug into his skin. The stupid little man hissed and whipped his head to me, mouth open in a snarl. Before he could do more than glare, I clocked him with my other hand.

Brutus slumped to the ground, out cold. Using the hand still in my grasp, I flipped him over so that he was face down. Gathering his hands and feet together, I called over my shoulder, "Hey, Little Bastard? There's a few sets of Sea Prism handcuffs in that box. Bring them to me, will ya?"

A/N: I'm back! Thank you all for your continued patience and love. It's thanks to all of you that this story has continued for almost 6 years, and is now finally starting to draw to a close. Due to reasons, I do most of my writing while at work, on work computers (I have an amazing job that allows me this freedom lol). But because of that, I don't want to take advantage and write smut on said computers. And with the subject matter of the last few chapters (and some upcoming chapters ;) lol), I haven't written ASN in over a year. But I am here (heh), and I will try to be better about updating in the future.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter! Life, you owe me a drawing now lol xD

~Shini