Kaizoku wa Kaizoku desu… A Pirate is a Pirate

Part 1 of a 4 part series

by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Seven – Shep Returned To The Sea…

The crew of the East Wind milled around and muttered to themselves. Lucky waited for Ben to emerge from the captain's chambers. Yasopp held a softly sobbing Luffy on his knee. Finally, the ship's surgeon and Ben emerged. Luffy looked up to them and snuffed. "Is Shanks gonna be ok?"

"Yeah, kid. Take more than that to hurt Cap'n Shanks." Beckman tousled his hair. To his left, Bower kept a watchful eye on the boy. "Isn't that right, Mr. Mayor?"

Bower grunted and walked to the rail. He watched the waves and lost himself for a moment. On the port side, towards the stern, they heard a commotion.

"Hey!" someone shouted. "You can't come on board, Lady!" a pirate cried out, his voice trailed away as he fell into the water below. Bower turned and gasped. Her hair was down and even in the simple country dress she wore, she exuded authority.

"Captain Marina…" Bower muttered.

"Bower, where's Luffy?" she demanded. Ace hung back on the top of the gang-plank, watching his mother with wide incredulous eyes.

"Moma!" Luffy cried, jumped out of Yasopp's lap and ran into her arms. Briefly, Marina turned back into 'mom' and kissed the top of his head.

"Oh, my little boy! Are you alright!" She held his face in her hands. He was covered with bruises and scrapes and was missing a tooth. She pulled him back into her embrace, picked him up and turned to her former first mate. "Where is Shanks?"

"Before you see him," Bower looked to Beckman and nodded. "You need to know what happened."

Ben nodded back and looked to Marina. She handed Luffy to Bower. "Take Ace and Luffy home."

"Yes Ma'am."

Shanks lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling. His shoulder throbbed with pain - only slightly numbed by the brandy the ship's physician had prescribed him. He drifted off to sleep and the memories flooded in.

.X.

Around the table in the East Wind's galley - their favorite meeting room - Shanks leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the table.

"Ok," his brother began and unfurled a map of East Blue with more than a few holes in it. "Where to next?"

Usually, this was when Marina whipped out a knife, tossed it in the air and declared that wherever it landed was where they should go. Shanks looked over at the co-captain of their little fleet. She held her hands in her lap.

"Marina?" Shep asked. "Where to?"

She hesitated, but pointed finally to a harbor to the south. "It's called Fuchsia Village. I've heard from more than one source that they treat pirates like guests and there's no Marine base for miles.

"So, we can take them by surprise, right Cap'n?" Bower asked with a grin.

Shanks stared but said nothing.

"No. You guys are going to drop me off there."

"What!" her first mate choked.

"You're breaking up the fleet?" Shanks asked, taking his feet off the table and sat up.

"No. Not my ship. Just me. You can pick me up again in a few years. I need time to have my baby."

Shanks felt like he was suddenly severely intoxicated. He gripped the edge of the table and looked to his brother for his reaction.

"Marina…" Shep could only just about mouth her name in shock.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"No… Marina, this is great! You're really having my baby!" Shep asked, amazed. She nodded. "Well then I'm coming with you!"

"Shep…" Marina looked over to his brother.

Shanks smiled sadly. "You gotta do what you gotta do, right?"

"Right!" Shep agreed. "And it's not like we'll be gone for good. We'll come back soon as the little bugger can come with us!"

"Right!" Marina cheered, her good spirits restored by Shep's unending enthusiasm.

"Come on, let's go tell the others!" Shep dashed out of the room. Marina followed slowly. Shanks and Bower sat where they were.

"I didn't plan for this to happen," Marina said quietly from the doorway. "I would have gone by myself."

Shanks smiled again. "Hey, what are you apologizing for?"

Bower nodded in agreement. "I will captain our ship. Shanks will captain this one. We will get by until your return, my Captain."

"You guys are the best," she said, fighting back tears and ran after Shep. Shanks sighed and got up to go.

"It is the beginning of the end for us. I told her that to make her happy. I have no plans to pursue this lifestyle without her."

"Don't tell me you got a thing for her too?"

"Too?" Bower raised a brow at Shanks. "Spare me. I am twenty years her senior. Years ago, someone charged me with her care. I will follow her wherever she goes and attempt to insure her safety and happiness." Bower stood. "I know her better than anyone. She will not return to the sea."

Shanks paused before leaving the room. "Maybe it's better that way."

.X.

Three years later, Shanks walked up the dusty road to the little house where the people at Party's Bar had told him he could find his friends. Even before he reached the door, he could tell something was amiss. Babies cried and loud, angry voices shouted from inside. He pulled his pistol and ran to the door.

"…who you really care about!" Marina screamed.

Shanks' eyes went wide. He pressed against the door and listened.

"That's not what I'm saying!" his brother shouted back.

"Yes it is! You love the sea more than me, more than Ace, more than Luffy!"

"I just want to go back to the way it was before!"

"If you want that so bad, then go! Go back to your Mother Ocean!"

"Fine! I've had enough of this!"

"Fine!" she screamed. There was a pause. "Why are you still standing there!" Something smashed and shattered. Shanks slowly put his gun away, his hand shaking. "Get Out!" Marina screamed as she threw the door open. Her face was red and tear-stained. Shep's jaw fell as he saw his brother standing in the twilight. For a moment, the sound of a baby crying was all they heard. Marina gasped, covered her face with her hands and ran upstairs to tend to her children.

Shep's shoulders slumped. "Long time no see, little brother." Shanks tried to wrap his brain around what he had just seen. Shep indicated to the couch and he dropped down onto it. The sounds of crying subsided upstairs. Shep ducked into his bed room. There was a warm glow coming from the fireplace. The smell of spice cake lingered in the air and as the baby quieted, the only indication of trouble lay in a smashed coffee mug on the floor. Shep reemerged with a duffle bag and his straw hat.

"You're leaving?" Shanks asked, dazed.

"You heard her, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but…"

"It's been like this for a while. Since before Luffy was born. Just after she had Ace, her attitude changed. She never wants to go back to being a pirate. She doesn't want to do what we had planned together." He turned his eyes up from a picture on the mantle of the three of them, laughing almost five years before. "We can't be together anymore. It's not fair to the boys to have us screaming at each other all the time."

"I'm so sorry…" Shanks whispered. Shep handed him his bag and ascended the stairs.

He knocked on the nursery door. "Marina? Shanks and I are leaving."

There was no answer.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be what you needed me to be…" he said quietly. The silence from the other side of the door was almost unbearable. "I love you. Good-bye."

More to come...