Chapter 10 - Spending Time Together

A/N: Thanks guys for being really supportive! Now would you be so kind to leave a review? *bats eyelashes*

Also the crews are still at the island they docked at yesterday, and no warnings for this chapter.

This is also another calm chapter to just show everyday life between the Spades and Red Hairs. The end gets a little sad but nothing serious.

BUT NEXT CHAPTER WE ARE GETTIN' SERIOUS!

Read and Enjoy~

Two Days Later...

Shanks smirked as he snatched the hand that was reaching into his pocket, attempting to grab the purple handkerchief inside.

"Nice try kid, but still caught you," he drawled, sounding a bit too pleased. His apprentice sighed as he stepped into view, a slight scowl on his features.

"Again? Sometimes I feel like you're cheating," Ace grumbled.

The redhead chuckled as they continued walking down the streets of the town they were in. "You know I wouldn't cheat. Rules are rules and I abide by them, especially if I made them."

The fire-user eyed him. "Mhm, sure thing."

Shanks rolled his eyes and ruffled his hair, causing the teen to duck his head and swat his hand away.

"Should we restart again?" he then asked. Shanks contemplated it for a minute before shaking his head.

"No, let's just enjoy right now." He threw a smile at the kid before looking back in front of him.

It was a nice early afternoon and besides, he wanted to spend time with the kid without it being more training or with all the crews surrounding.

It'd be nice to have alone time.

Ace wouldn't say it out loud but inside that made him happy. He easily caught up to the Yonko and smiled.

"Alright, what should we do? Yesterday me and Deuce ate at this really cool ramen stand we could go to," he suggested.

They both swapped ideas and suggestions back forth for a while until when Ace went to speak he faltered, finally growing discomforted at the stares and glances he was being given by the townsfolk.

Shanks seemed to have noticed for he nudged him gently with his shoulder.

"Don't worry too much about it, they're just surprised to see a young pirate hanging out casually with a Yonko," he said lowly.

The Spade captain nodded slowly, still feeling uncomfortable. "It's just… weird."

Shanks could agree to that. "Well this is the first time the public have seen our crews together. Little surprised you didn't notice before," he said quietly as he tossed a glance at the kid.

Ace gave a small shrug. "I was more focused on trying to grab the handkerchief from you," he explained.

The older man sighed. "Hate to say that now it'll most likely hit the newspaper in a few days. Maybe sooner." He eyed the young man beside him. "Does it bother you?" he asked, genuinely interested.

Ace shook his head. "No it doesn't, but everyone just looking or at least glancing at me is a little weird. Makes me feel like I got something on my face and I look funny."

Shanks raised an eyebrow, feeling amused. "Don't worry, nothing's on you. Actually, they're probably staring because your zipper is down."

Ace widened his eyes and quickly looked down, but only to see that his zipper was fine.

His cheeks flushed bright red and he hissed at his mentor, who was shaking with barely contained laughter.

"Shanks! You jerk!"

"Aw c'mon it was- ow! Hey that hurt- ow! Stop- ow!"

Benn felt the corner of his mouth twitch up as he sensed a certain someone sneaking up behind him. "If you're trying to sneak up on me, it's going to take a lot of years of hard work."

He heard a huff and Ace appeared right next to him.

"Testing out the new sneaking techniques Shanks showed you, hm?" The gunslinger grinned when the kid smiled sheepishly but not looking guilty.

"Maybe," Ace chuckled. He hopped onto the railing the elder was leaning on and swung his legs, enjoying the ocean breeze.

Benn automatically moved closer, in case the kid had a narcolepsy attack.

"So why the visit? I would assume you'd have training with Shanks right now, or asking for more stories from him," he teased, earning a shove from the fire-user.

"Just because Shanks is my mentor doesn't mean I have to spend every passing moment with him," Ace retorted.

Benn quirked an eyebrow up. But yet you want to.

Everyone knew that the two captains were close. They'd have to be stupid if they couldn't see how much the two were bonding and getting along.

Yet it was concerning.

The Red Hairs knew that Shanks was sad when they left Luffy all those years ago.

Their captain had a down mood surrounding himself and they caught him staring out to sea with a blank expression that somehow told them everything.

But with how much he and Ace were bonding, and if the kid refused the offer of joining, how bad would that hurt their captain?

Benn sighed.

He would worry about that later. For now, he would spend time with the kid before he had to run off.

"You ever shot a gun Ace?"

When Shanks walked out onto the deck he felt a smile grow on his lips.

His crew and the Spades were all sprawled out on the Red Force's deck, talking and laughing. It was nice to watch them interact, getting along and bonding.

But his attention was moved over to Ace, who was hunched over something as he talked to Deuce.

"What are you two up to?" he inquired as he flopped down in front of them. He easily caught the bottle of rum Yasopp tossed to him.

He huffed a silent breath of laughter as he saw Ace automatically scrunch his nose up at the bottle, knowing the kid didn't like alcohol.

"Just writing a letter to Luffy. He sent me one yesterday," Ace replied. He had small smudges of ink on his fingers that he didn't seem to notice.

The Yonko instantly perked up. "Really? How is he?"

Deuce groaned as the young captain perked up himself. "He's doing pretty good minus tripping and rolling down a hill. He claims his aim is getting better."

At the fond look in Ace's eyes Shanks knew it was something between the brothers.

"I'm glad he's well. Sure do miss the brat," he chuckled lowly. He received a strange look from the raven-haired teen that made him raise an eyebrow.

"Shanks, you do know you could write Luffy a letter too, right?" he questioned.

Ace knew his answer when the redhead gave him a blank stare. He groaned and rolled his eyes. "It never hit you?"

Shanks rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "We made a promise-" he was interrupted by Ace throwing his hands up.

"I know all about your promise, my little brother didn't shut up about you, but sending letters is different. You aren't seeing him in person you're just writing letters," he said as if the elder was dumb.

The teen then went back to writing, but after a moment passed he then handed the paper and ink to the Yonko who looked confused.

Ace sighed heavily at him. "Here, I saved you enough space to write a small paragraph. Maybe even have the others sign the back or something, it'll be a present to Lu."

Shanks felt a grin light up on his face. He eagerly reached for the quill and began writing.

Once he was finished the Red Hairs then signed the back of the letter, with small but warming hellos and whatnot.

Honestly it looked like a bunch of scribbles.

Ace shook his head with a laugh. "Luffy is going to flip once he sees this."

"They're having fun."

Lucky Roo didn't bother to face Yasopp as he responded, "It's them. You know how they are."

The two Red Hairs watched in mirth at the wrestling match between their captain and Ace.

It started off as simple shoving, but everyone knew the two were too childish, and soon enough they began wrestling each other. Shanks could have taken Ace out in one move but they knew the man was having too much fun..

"They're at it again?"

The two pirates looked to see Benn appearing out of nowhere and wearing a small grin.

Yasopp nodded. "I bet they're gonna keep going for another hour."

Lucky Roo shook his head. "No way. I say half an hour… wait nevermind, this is our captain and his ah, student."

The three of them shared an amused look before going back to the show.

They collectively winced as Shanks landed a nasty blow to Ace's side. But then the kid retaliated with a particularly dirty kick to the shins and tackled him to the ground.

"Ace sure doesn't mind fighting dirty," Lucky Roo commented.

Benn snorted. "Of course not. He probably had to with a hyper little brother."

But just as they were talking and laughing, Ace stopped moving and fell down.

In a second they were there with Shanks already bent down on one knee, a hand resting gingerly on the kid's shoulder.

Shanks glanced up at his crewmates and shook his head in faint exasperation. "No need to worry, the kid just had a narcolepsy attack. He'll wake real soon."

He stepped back as Yasopp frowned and moved closer to Ace. "You sure? What if- gah!"

He held his chin as Ace just looked at them with a raised eyebrow, not noticing or caring he smacked his head against Yasopp's chin.

The kid blinked in confusion. "Why are you all surrounding me?"

Shanks spoke before his crew could say anything. "You had a sleep attack and I was just making sure you didn't hurt yourself, but these fellas were worried."

Lucky Roo coughed and muttered, "I wasn't worried, just concerned."

Benn rolled his eyes while Shanks offered a hand to the kid, who accepted and let the man pull him up.

"Now, I believe we have a match to finish?" he grinned.

Ace giggled with an evil grin of his own, ignoring the facepalms of the other Red Hairs.

"Round two!" he shouted and launched himself at his mentor.

Ace couldn't help but be nearly hypnotized by the delicious smell of food that wafted throughout the galley of the Red Force.

He heard Lucky Roo chuckling beside him from where they sat and looked at him, eyebrow raised. "What's so funny?" he asked.

Lucky Roo chuckled once more before calming himself. "Everytime we eat you get this glazed look over your eyes. Does our food really smell and taste that good?"

Ace nodded so fast that the Red Hair feared his neck would snap.

"Uh huh. Though, I do miss eating crocodile. That's something you guys should try sometime," the kid said offhandedly as he dug into the food before him.

Lucky Roo raised an eyebrow. "'Crocodile'?" he slowly repeated.

Again Ace nodded. "Yeah that was me and Luffy's favorite. I'd try to hunt as much as possible for us to eat."

Something unpleasant settled in the elder pirate's chest.

"You hunted your own food?" he asked carefully casual. He watched the teen as he hummed in response while sipping his drink.

"Yeah, that was what the bandits said. You had to fend for yourself and Luffy wasn't ready, so I hunted for the both of us. Sometimes he needed more so I'd give him some of my portion."

Lucky Roo felt something in his chest drop at that.

But he made sure to keep his face from giving anything away, so he went back to his meal and slowly began to eat.

When the kid wasn't looking he slid a plate of his food towards him.

Ace hummed a quiet tune under his breath as he walked besides Deuce. He scanned the shop stands in the town streets but nothing really caught his eye.

"So, is there anything on your mind?" Deuce asked, breaking the silence.

The captain looked at his first mate with a raised eyebrow. "Do I need a reason to hang out with my friend?"

The masked man shook his head. "No. I was just curious because it seems like I've become a therapist for you."

Immediately Ace began to feel guilty, to which Deuce easily picked up on.

He sighed, wishing he chose better words.

Deuce placed a hand gently on the fire-user's shoulder and gave a soft smile. "I'm not hurt or upset, so don't you be feeling guilty," he said with a light warning.

Ace frowned, ready to argue why he should be feeling guilty, but the warning in his friend's eyes made him bite his tongue. So he stayed quiet and they continued their walk.

After a minute Deuce then let out a faint laugh. "Though, if I am your therapist, I should be getting paid," he playfully joked.

Ace raised an eyebrow, amused, and bumped his shoulder against his. "Is our friendship not enough?" he joked right back, a cheesy grin plastered on his face.

Deuce snorted then deadpanned, "No."

They both laughed out loud, ignoring the weirded out stares from passing people. It felt too good to joke and laugh after everything.

What with telling Shanks about Sabo, his appetite, and his narcolepsy…

He needed a good laugh. Especially with his closest friend.

"Ace pulled a Shanks."

Everyone looked over to see Nora standing in the middle of the deck, her expression clearly awed at what she said.

"Whaddya mean Ace pulled a Shanks?" Fin, one of the Spades, inquired.

Nora huffed as if annoyed that she had to explain. "We all know that Shanks made a promise to Luffy that they would meet again. Well that got me thinking about Tama."

Shanks shifted in his seat, feeling curious, and looked over at Ace who had a nostalgic expression on his face.

"What about her?" the teen questioned. He honestly had no clue to what Nora was getting at but he'd at least try to.

"Shanks promised your brother they'd meet again once Luffy is stronger, surpassing him, yeah?" she questioned.

Both mentor and apprentice nodded simultaneously. To which the others found funny.

"You promised Tama that after she's older and a kunoichi that you would take her on board. Basically like Shanks promising to Luffy, you did the same to Tama in a way." After saying that Nora laughed to herself while Fin elbowed her on the side for being loud.

Ace scratched the back of his head in thought. "I guess, in a way…" he mumbled.

"Wait, who's Tama?" Benn interrupted. He and the others bore similar confused expressions.

Ace blinked. "I never told you? She's this kid, a kunoichi in training, back in Wano. Long story short, we met, and when we were leaving she wanted to join us. But I told her I would let her only when she completed her training and was older."

Shanks smiled. "She must mean a lot to you."

The kid looked away and brought his shoulders up. "I mean, I wouldn't say no," he muttered quietly under his breath.

Shanks chuckled and felt like teasing him a bit but thought better against it. Instead he sighed and looked out towards the sea.

All this talk about kids was starting to make him wonder about things. He needed a distraction.

"Hey, how about we blow something up?"

Shanks mentally scolded himself. He knew he let himself get distracted too many times at dinner, getting lost in thoughts that he should have pushed away.

It now bit him in the rear since both Benn and Ace - just great - seemed to have noticed.

He saw Ace frown in concern and whispered to Benn at the table which led to his friend to whisper also. He knew the two had talked about him.

He'd have to be stupid if he didn't. What with the concerned and curious glances they kept shooting his way.

Well mostly the concern was from Ace and the curiosity more from Benn, with just a little concern.

Once dinner had ended he bid his goodnights and went straight off to his room.

He opened his closet and reached for the buried trunk all the way in the back, hidden and concealed by clothing and another trunk though smaller.

The redhead pulled it out and sat down with a heavy sigh.

After a minute he gently pried it open, looking at the contents with a forlorn expression. There were old bounty posters of the Roger Pirates, some small trinkets from when he was younger, and a crappy beaded necklace that he found with Buggy in a 'treasure' chest.

Things from when he was a Roger Pirate.

He put those things to the side and reached carefully for the old bounty poster of his former captain.

He scoffed. Ace looked nothing like his father, minus the eyes. For sure the kid had his eyes.

Shanks set the poster down with care and reached for Rouge's poster.

He couldn't stop the breath of awe as he once again saw the comparisons of her and Ace. He was like the male version of his mother. Excluding the near same personality Ace shared with Roger.

After a moment the same thoughts from dinner came back. And this time he let himself get lost in them.

He could see Rayleigh reassuring Roger who was nervous yet excited as they went to see his newborn child.

Roger would probably be frozen to the spot once he saw his lover holding their child, but snap out of it from a shove from Rayleigh.

He'd check on Rouge before turning his attention to their baby who he now saw was a boy.

Rayleigh wouldn't have admitted it but he would've been ecstatic. He would've been next to hold baby Ace.

Then he and Buggy would be called out from their hiding spots to come over and see their newest member.

In that moment it hit Shanks then that Buggy would've been an older brother to Ace too.

The two of them would then give a loud promise to watch over their captain's and lover's son forever. Buggy would be offered to hold baby Ace, denying he wasn't crying and overjoyed.

Then his turn.

He would have been in complete awe. Staring into those innocent eyes and declaring silently to himself that he would never let this kid down. To never let him be lonely.

Shanks felt his chest squeeze and tighten so badly that he automatically brought a hand up, before bringing it back down.

He shut his eyes and let a pained breath. How badly he wished things could have been different.

"Shanks, you there?"

The Yonko snapped his head up and frowned. What was Ace doing here? He doubted the kid only wanted to say hi. Was he feeling alright?

He cleared his throat before answering. "Yeah kid?"

It was silent before he heard, "Can I come in?"

He sighed. "Give me a quick second."

He quickly put the posters into his desk drawer, not exactly wanting to store them away, and pushed his trunk back.

He scrubbed a hand over his face before going over to the door and opening it.

Ace looked fine except the look of worry that he was concealing. If Shanks were anyone else he would have fallen for it, but he knew the kid too well.

"What's up? You alright?" He spoke first, wanting to know if the kid was and to also not have him pick up on his down mood.

His apprentice was quiet, just eyeing him, before giving a small smile.

"Heard the townsfolk say the stars are pretty at night. I wanted to check them out but was wondering if you wanted to join, and also to ask if it was alright."

The Yonko frowned, feeling a little suspicious.

"Really? You know you're allowed to go wherever you want, as long as you tell whoever's on watch duty so they know in case something goes wrong," he retorted.

Ace shrugged and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Was wanting to know if- y'know what, screw it. Are you alright?"

Shanks took a step back, not expecting that.

He knew the kid was trying to check up on him but in a subtle way. But he didn't expect him to just drop it and outright ask him.

"I feel fine. What about you? How's the narcolepsy?" he lied and changed the subject.

Ace narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't use my narcolepsy to get out of something, Shanks. I'm worried if something's bothering you, and you don't have to tell me but at least maybe tell Benn. I know what it's like to have something bother you, and just recently I found it helps to talk it out."

With that the kid began to turn around to walk away, but Shanks felt guilty and quickly grabbed his shoulder.

Ace immediately tensed and he let go, remembering the kid hated random and blind touches he didn't see.

"Kid I'm sorry. I'm just, remembering the past," he explained lamely.

His student gave him a calculating look before shrugging one shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Now, you wanna join me or not? Forewarning Benn is there."

Shanks quirked an eyebrow up. "Were you both going to tag team me?"

Ace rolled his eyes. "No. I was actually coming here to check up on you but me and him ran into each other, both having the same reason wanting to see you," he explained.

The elder shook his head with an exasperated but amused expression. "So he sent you?"

The kid smirked. "Yeah cause I'm cute and adorable. Now back to the question, you joining or not?"

Shanks gave him a fake scowl and shut his door. "Only because you asked so nicely."

The fire-user bumped his shoulder against his. "Of course I did, I was taught manners after all."

When they reached Benn the older man simply smiled and led the way to a grassy hill. Apparently Ace wasn't lying when he said the townsfolk said the stars were pretty, in fact they were beautiful.

Shanks looked over at Benn and Ace who were pointing up at the sky and making comments about what star looked like what, coming up with hilarious images to think.

He felt his chest lighten.

He wished things could have been different, but at the same time he loved this.

Bonus

"Shanks! Shanks? Shanks!"

Said man lifted his lips into a bright grin at the cheery voice of a certain pirate. He turned around to see Ace with a grin so big and wide that he wondered if it hurt.

"Hey kid, what's up?" he questioned once he was within proper talking range.

He noticed Benn trailing behind Ace with - what scared him - a proud smile.

Ace grabbed his hand and shook it with excitement. "Shanks, Benn taught me something really cool! You gotta watch, can you watch?"

The Yonko laughed at the childish excitement. "Sure thing kid, what is it?" he asked cheerily.

The teen pulled him to the center of the Red Force's deck instead of answering. Once he was satisfied he dropped the redhead's hand and faced Benn, hand out.

That's when Shanks noticed his first mate was carrying his spare rifle. Now his concerns were climbing.

Before he could say anything the gunslinger handed over the rifle to the kid and walked away, to only place a big barrel a couple feet away and come right back.

Ace held the rifle perfectly and prepared to take aim. Fire began to trail from the kid's shoulder to his trigger finger.

The concern turned into fear in Shanks.

"FIRE!" the kid hollered.

He pulled the trigger and the bullet zipped out with fire trailing behind it, hitting the barrel and causing a beautiful, but terrifying, explosion.

The few poor souls on deck nearly fainted.

Shanks was jaw dropped until he heard laughing and was even more surprised to see it was from Benn.

"You taught him how to shoot," the redhead stated dumbly.

Benn nodded without an ounce of regret. "It's good for him to know how to. Might come in handy."

Shanks opened his mouth but was interrupted by Ace cackling like a madman.

"Shanks! Did you see that? You should see me do it without the rifle but man! That was awesome!" he cried.

Shanks went to answer but was again stopped but only by seeing the scorch marks left over from Ace's shooting extravaganza.

Ace noticed and winced. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it. But after I finish the other places."

The Yonko froze. "'Other places'?" he repeated.

The kid nodded. "Yeah from when I was practicing with Benn earlier."

Shanks inhaled a deep breath and exhaled extremely slow.

It's only scorch marks, not gaping holes. The kid was happy, that was all that mattered.

"How many places did you shoot at?"

"Five."

"...fantastic."

Welp there's chapter 10!

Now I showed Shanks kinda sad but because I wanted to show other characters being sad besides Ace, and also that was something I wanted to do. Thought it might be interesting.

Also when Lucky Roo was like "this is our captain and his ah, student." He was teasing as if he was about to say his son.

Reminder; take care of yourselves. Drink water, eat right, and do the things (appropriate things) that make you happy.

Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and please leave a review.