She couldn't remember ever really having needed for her mom or dad in her first life - the Before - to give her The Talk, it had always seemed like something she knew from a young age. And even trying to look back at some of her faint memories, it always seemed like whenever someone tried to teach her about The Birds and The Bees it was always stuff she already knew.
Though, from what she could remember being taught, it was never quite as...colourful, sure she could use that word, as what her mama was telling her now.
A man had a penis, a woman had a vagina. She already knew that. When she got old enough and saw blood on her underwear that was normal she was just menstruating. Again, she already knew that. Never judge someone on their sexual orientation, you never know who you need to know in the world and it's best not to alienate them from you because of something they can't control. She never planned on doing that in the first place. And if you ever become sexual active then there was birth control available so she could lower her chances of getting pregnant- "No daughter of mine is becoming a teenage mother." -and it helped with lessen cramps. That was something she didn't know existed in this world, at least she now had a form of medication if her cycle was as bad as it was in her first life - in the Before, she needed to get use to referring to her last life as the Before it just made things easier.
Her mama continued on, informing her about all the different diseases that can be transferred from person to person - "What happens on the Grand Line stays on the Grand Line. Except for herpes, that shit comes back." So the Grand Line was this world's version of Vegas, good to know - and different ways to prevent the transfer of those diseases - "I don't care if he says it feels better not wearing one, you make any man you sleep with wear a condom." At least condoms were a thing in this world.
Maybe she should have been more disturbed when her mama continued on, telling her it was okay to be proud of her body and flash a little skin here and there - "Men will do almost anything for a woman if he sees even just a little cleavage" - and perhaps that was just a remnant of her past life sneaking through - some of Charlotte who had never been confident enough to wear lower cut clothing or shorts that didn't end at the knee - but from what she could remember about this world, as long as you were comfortable with what you wore, no one really cared.
That was actually quite refreshing. From what she could remember of her first life people would always judge you - sometimes even out right say it to your face - by what you wore whereas no one in this world seemed to care what anyone wore. Hell, her mother could wear her short shorts and cut off top and no one even blinked an eye that she was a mother wearing this. In this world, when she got older, she could explore a few clothing choices that no one ever let her explore in her last life.
She just wouldn't tell her papa - Shanks - lest the man freak out about her future clothing choices and hide her away on some desert island.
"Okay Birdie, any questions?" Shit, she had zoned out during her mama's speech. What was the last thing she had mentioned, was it herpes or something else? She needed to play off that she hadn't been paying attention fast.
"Does papa know you're teaching me this?" She cocked her head to the side, furrowing her brows slightly.
"Your papa doesn't need to know everything you or I do." That was probably a smart way to go about her life as well. Her papa definitely did not need to know about her plan to stop a future war no matter the cost. "Anything else?" Her mama tapped her on her nose causing her eyes to go cross as she tried to follow the older woman's finger.
"Why'd we push all the furniture back?" That was still something her mother had yet to answer. Before her mama had gotten started on the sex ed lecture, she had roped Wren into helping her push all the furniture back against the wall giving them a good twenty square feet of room before plopping the two of them cross legged on the floor.
Her mama stood up, using one hand coated in Armament - something her mama willingly showed off in the house since she started training with Wren - to lift her up by the back of her shirt. "Well Birdie, since we've been practicing some basic hand to hand I figure it's time we start working on harder moves." Her mama set her back down on her own two feet, hands going to her hips. "So now is as good a time as any to teach you how to dance."
Her face must have showed her disbelief and caused her mama to scowl and flick her forehead.
"Don't give me that look." Her mama gently grabbed her wrists in her hands, pulling her into the center of the cleared space. "It's not sexist, it's just fact, we will never be as strong as men but we can outlast them with endurance." She stepped away, leaning over the sewing machine in the corner of the room where a sound shell was sitting and lightly pressed in the top in activating the shell and filling the room with breathy harmonious music. "And the best way to do that is to dance." Wren let out a squeal of joy when her mama grabbed one of her hands, spinning her around in a tight circle.
Right foot forward. Right foot back. Left foot forward. Left foot back. Right foot to the side. Right foot back. Left foot to the side. Left foot back. Rock the hips some and stay light on the balls of the feet. Rinse and repeat.
"Good job Birdie. Once you get this mastered, we can start throwing in some more complex moves. Always remember, fighting is like dancing." Her mama spun her around with one hand before leading her to add a few more steps in the simple routine.
Though the fact her muscles weren't as defined as when she was in her twenties the first time around was quite annoying to Wren as she soon found herself tiring quickly after only a few minutes of doing the same repeated movements. Dancing and learning how to both throw and manipulate daggers were quite different. "Does papa know how to dance?" She huffed out, trying not to try over her own two feet as she tried to grapevine to the left. Oh, the things she could do to his image if she ever needed to blackmail him.
Her mama hummed shaking her head with a small smile. "No, your dad has two left feet when doing anything but fighting with Mihawk but I bet if you asked when he visits this year he would gladly attempt to not look like a drunken monkey more than usual." A faster tempo started up. "Now, same movements just a bit faster. And five, six, seven, eight."
The rest of her seventh year followed the same routine; target practice with both stationary and moving targets in the form of birds on a nearby pond, steadily increasing the difficulty of dance moves with her mama and later on in the year incorporating wooden dowels to represent daggers as they mock fought using some of the dance moves, practicing both Armament and Observation Haki, and waiting for Shanks to return with news of the world and to further increase her ability with Haki.
That was the first time in her memory that her papa never showed up to visit in her seven years in this world. And perhaps that was a good thing as it meant he never had to cross paths with the marine admiral that decided to appear on the island.
"Little Wren is growing up to be quite the looker." Tifa pulled her eyes away for a second in the direction of the town mayor that had pulled up a chair beside her where she was working on altering a dress for a new bride. Why the bride chose to have her show up at the most popular bar in town during working hours was beyond what she was willing to care about. Wasn't the first time in the building's history that a bride had stood on a chair/bar stool/or table while she altered clothing. "Going to grow up looking like a copy of her mother."
"She may look like me - spin around darlin - but you can see her father's personality come out at the most random of times." She mumbled out around a mouth full of pins. "I swear that red hair just means the child is going to be trouble. You said you wanted it taken up in the front right?" She shot her eyes up to the dark haired bride standing on the stool who just nodded at her.
"You hear about what she did to the Withem boy-"
She stopped pinning the front of the dress up, shooting a deadpan glare at the taller spectacled man whose once raven locks that were slowly turning grey at the roots. "I'm still hearing from that cow of a woman about how much of a demon child my little girl is. Don't know what set Wren off but if the boy is anything like the mother then she should have hit him harder." She grumbled the rest under her mouth, earning a chuckle from the older man beside her.
"Yeah, sure. Nothing like her mother." He mumbled around the rim of his mug, taking a long sip of the coffee flavoured rum. It might have been only noon on the island but it was five o'clock somewhere. "I definitely don't remember a pink haired girl punching out a pirate captain because he put his hand on her back. Nope, that didn't happen at all."
"Oi," Tifa shot him both a small smirk and a pointed finger, "you watch your mouth. I've got pins and I'm not afraid to take out one of your eyes with them." She stepped back, helping the would be bride down off the table that she could walk around with the temporarily altered dress, watching as the bride walked around the near empty bar, holding back a cringe every time the younger woman - she didn't look any older than what Tifa herself had been when she had Wren - stumbled in the heels clearly not used to walking in them.
She sat back, putting her elbows on the table behind her as she slumped in her seat, swirling the last quarter of her drink in the bottom of her glass lazily, glancing around the bar, focusing on the picture of herself holding a young - she must have been only a few months old at the time - Wren in her arms as Mayor Berkeley stuck a hat napkin on her head covering her red hair. "She's growing like a bad weed." Tifa hummed, bringing her glass up to her lips but not taking a sip, "Soon she'll be begging her dad to take her with him and the next time I'll see her she'll have a bounty on her head." She tilted the cup, finally taking a sip, catching the door to the bar flying open as one of the grocer boys ran into the bar, completely out of breath.
"Mayor Berkeley. Marines. Docking. Akainu. Looking. Red-Hair." The boy said breathlessly, panting in between each word and Tifa felt as if someone had just poured a bucket of freezing water over her and was surprised she didn't drop her glass once the information registered in her head.
Akainu. The Red Dog. The man who was 'famous' for his belief in Absolute Justice and how he hunted down so many women and children that could have been associated with Roger. And the fact he was looking for Red-Hair - looking for Shanks - could only spell disaster for both herself, everyone in town, and most importantly Wren.
And if he found Wren.
"Tifa, you need to leave." Mayor Berkeley hissed, growing pale as it was clear he had just come to the same conclusion as her. He might not have been her biological father, but he viewed both Foley's as his family and therefore thought of Wren as his granddaughter something he had told Tifa right to her face only moments after Wren had been born. "You need to leave and get to Wren, now."
"I can't." She hissed back, tightening her once loose grip on the glass in her hand and it was true she couldn't leave the bar without gaining the attention of Akainu. Sure she was decent enough at Observation Haki and could race back home in record time and warning but this was one the top the ranking members of the marines and she would put money on the fact he had been using his own Observation Haki to try and sense everyone in town and would grow quite suspicious if someone suddenly tried to hide themselves. "If I leave, he will follow."
At least if Akainu was heading into town that meant he probably wouldn't need to check the houses on the outer rim, assuming that he could get the information he needed from a majority of the population. And it would be quite unfortunate for him because almost the whole town loved it when the Red-Haired Pirates showed up as any other rookie crew that was here at the same time always left in a hurry. Not to mention they were always good for business.
And sure, the odd person here and there in town had a small issue with the crew but hopefully they would be smart enough to realise that if they blabbed to Akainu about Wren and herself, that they could also go in for having hid the information from the marines for eight years.
The would be bride scurried off to the woman's washroom to change out of her dress once checking in with Tifa and that was probably for the best as it save her from embarrassing herself by falling on her face as Akainu, in his red suited glory and harshly lined face, pushing open the door to the deathly silent bar, eyes flitting from each of the eight people in the bar including herself, the only sounds coming from the clacking of Akainu's boots as he crossed the threshold.
"I'm looking for the mayor of this town." His voice rang out with a deeply with the slight hint of condensing in the tone. "I was told I could find him here." It was obvious he already knew who the mayor was as he spoke while staring directly at Mayor Berkeley, the man in question without missing a beat placed his own glass down with steady hands.
"I am Mayor Berkeley." He steepled his hands in front of him, eyes locking with Akainu and Tifa would have applauded him if the situation was not so tense. "What can I do for the marines?" He looked up, obviously ignoring the the intimidation game Akainu was trying to play as he came to stand over Mayor Berkeley, green eyes clashing with near black.
"Red Hair." He lit a large cigar, purposely blowing the smoke in both Mayor Berkeley and her faces. "It's known that he frequents this island and it's my job to know why and put a stop to it." His gaze got harder, colder, as he spoke. "It is a crime punishable by death to withhold any information about wanted pirates from the marines."
To his credit, Mayor Berkeley never flinched, "I probably do not know much more than the marines. Red Hair shows up here every now and then, stocks up on supplies and leaves not long after." He took a sip of his drink, finishing it if the empty clank of it against the table was anything to go off of. "Our island is known for having some of the best sake, and he is known as the Wandering Pirate and for the parties he is said to have every night."
That seemed to strike a nerve in the Admiral as a vein visibly popped on his neck as he clenched his jaw in anger at the mayor's words and Tifa tried her best to stifle her snort in her glass, bravely meeting Akainu's eyes with her own as the man heard her reaction, getting some satisfaction from the way the man's eyes widen slightly when meeting her own green ones.
Some days she would kill for a "normal" looking set of eyes but today was not one of them.
"How about yourself?" His question was targeting her that much was obvious as his eyes narrowed. "Have you ever encountered the pirate captain?" He angled his body to stand over top of hers, not knowing that she had faced down men the same size as him without blinking. In hindsight, she was lucky to still be alive as she wasn't a big lady to start with but that was neither here nor there.
"Yes." She hummed with a shrug. "I have lived on this island all my life and have encountered him many times." It was the truth with many details left out but Akainu didn't need to know the nature of her and Shanks' encounters. "It is a small town." Tifa deadpanned out raising an eyebrow as if to state 'are you blind or just stupid?' and luckily she was saved from having to deal with the Admiral any more when a quite nervous bride to be shot her concerned looks, awkwardly holding her dress in her arms. "Now, I have a customer to deal with." She didn't even offer him a parting courtesy, just strode past him with her head held high as she headed in the direction of the younger woman and gathered the dress in her own arms.
This gave her a good excuse to rush - walk so no one would look at her with suspicion - home and dig out her white transponder snail from where ever she had stored it away when Shanks himself had given it to her years ago.
If the Admiral was here today asking questions, then Shanks should have been told yesterday and as much as it pained her to admit it; Wren needed to get off the island and he would know the best place to take her.
Shanks knows he is both channeling his late captain and pushing his luck being docked at Dawn island in the East Blue, the birth sea of the last Pirate King and the island Garp the Fist has claimed as his own home and he is mostly doing it so that he can imagine the look on the Vice-Admiral's face when word finally reaches him that the newest rookie was brazen enough not only to dock at his home island and town but also stay there for over half a year now.
And if he gets to influence Garp's grandson - one Monkey D. Luffy (and even if he hadn't said he was a D Shanks would have been able to tell by that smile that screamed 'I'm a D, look at me') - into becoming a pirate and pissing the man off, well that's just a bonus.
Though the kid was kinda...cute, in his own way and maybe that was his inner fatherly instincts coming up from not seeing his own Wren in almost a year. Though it pained him to be away from his girl, he knew deep down it was for the best as they had started hearing rumblings of the marines getting suspicious as to why he always seemed to appear at Volca around the same time each year (except for that one time when he got there very late in the year) he decided that maybe a year away - even if it meant missing his daughter's seventh birthday - was for the best.
But, just because he thought the kid was cute in his own way, didn't mean that he didn't want to strangle the hyper boy. Honestly, from what Tifa had told him Wren was never acted like Luffy once in her life. She never tried to steal a necklace off a person's neck like Luffy was trying.
"You can't just grab at other people's belongings, Luffy." Makino does not get enough credit or praise in the world, in Shanks' opinion, for having to deal with not only her regular customers but also his crew and Luffy.
"But I wanna see it." Luffy whines, lips pouting and large brown eyes wide as Shanks holds the small locket in his hand, slowly turning it in a familiar motion he has taken to doing whenever he starts to think about his daughter. "Why can't I see it?" He thumps his head down so his chin hits the counter top and Shanks can't help but chuckle, lifting his own drink to his lips before giving in, slightly.
"Here Luffy." Shanks popped opened his locket, smiling fondly at the picture of himself and a baby Wren on his chest, and angled it so the boy only a few years younger than Wren could see inside. "Pay attention, because this the one of the two most treasured items I possess." The first going without saying was the straw hat Roger had given him all those years ago and he still wore to this day.
"What is it?" He perked up, tilting his head to the side with a quizzical look on his face, crossing his arms as well.
"It's a picture of my little girl, Wren." He can see out of the corner of his eyes Makino jumping slightly at the knowledge that he has a daughter, something he has not mentioned in the near ten months he had been on the island and hadn't planned on it until Luffy drew attention to the locket around his neck. As much as he would love to go around a brag (mostly to Whitebeard because the man always wanted a family and here he was with a blood related daughter) about his kid he knew that any mention of her to the wrong person would spell her death.
Oh, but the moment his little girl set out on her own (he had seen the looks out to the sea when she thought he wasn't watching) and started wreaking havoc on the marines, he would be boasting about everything she did - and the first person he would to go would be Whitebeard just to brag. He was pretty sure the only other person outside his crew and the people on the island who knew about Wren was Mihawk as he wasn't sure but he might have mentioned something about a red haired child of his out there in the world without naming names. And Benn could try to stop him if he wanted but he already had plans to clear wall space to frame each and every bounty poster she would get.
"Why is she so small?"
Makino sighs, pulling both Luffy up into her arms and into a higher seat to give him some food and pulling Shanks' attention to the stunning green haired woman. Though Tifa will always hold a special place in his heart - they both agreed to remain just friends and both encouraged the other to find someone to complete them - Makino has been growing on him and this time he can see himself starting to fall for the motherly woman now it was just the matter of getting her to see past his exterior as a pirate and maybe learning about Wren was that first step.
"That's because it's just a picture, Luffy." She put a plate down in front of the boy, earning a large beaning 'D' shaped smile from the raven haired kid before he started digging into it. "Much like what I have hanging up in the hallways upstairs of you." It was obvious her words fell on deaf ears as Luffy never looked up from his plate or even make any sort of movement to acknowledge he heard her earning a sigh and fond look from the woman before she turned her eyes on Shanks, or to be more exact the picture locket. "How old is she?" Her voice is soft as well as her eyes and Shanks can't help the pride that wells up inside him.
"About eight." He angles himself better bringing himself closer to the barmaid. "Looks like an exact copy of her mother now. Only thing she got from me was the hair." Makino gently grabbed the locket from his hand causing him to have to lean further over the counter since it was still locked around his neck.
"Do you see her often?" He couldn't help but smile at the slight blush the appeared on Makino's cheeks when she finally noticed just how close he had gotten to her, not that he was complaining as it really brought out her ruby eyes, and how to top of his shirt was still unbuttoned giving her a good look down it and at his chest.
He tucked the locket back under his shirt when she handed it back to him, "As much as I can. This is the longest I've been away but the marines were starting to sniff around so I figured we'd sail to the East Blue and draw their attention away from where she is."
"Hey," Luffy's voice piped back up finally clueing back into the conversation at the mention of the marines, "you've got to take me on your next adventure Shanks. I wanna be a pirate, just like you."
Shanks laughed, both at Luffy's spunk at not stopping to try and convince him to take the younger boy out to sea and the fact that Garp's grandson was convinced he wanted to be a pirate and wouldn't that just aggravate the old marine dog.
For sure, Luffy is an annoying brat at times but he grows on you giving enough time. He's kinda a goof - still shocks him to think that they kid stab himself under his eye when they first docked - and is starstruck by him and the stories he would tell about being on the Oro Jackson with Roger but he gives Shanks those big round brown eyes and all he can see is a little girl with red hair and seafoam green eyes looking up at him like he hung the moon and stars.
"Right, as if you could ever be a pirate." He teased with a smile and Shanks could see staying here a bit longer even if his heart clenched at the thought of not seeing his girls sooner but at least he's got another kid to look after in the meantime.
He doesn't expect the call though.
Sure, a month or two before this moment, or had it been more? The days blurred together, the mountain bandits who poured sake on him and basically mocked him and his crew with their pitiful eight million beri bounty had been a bit of a damper, and yeah sure he had lost a bit of cash he could have gotten by selling the Gomu Gomu no Mi when Luffy ate it but it would be nothing to attack a marine base or an enemy pirate ship to get it back.
But that was long ago and he had stopped getting annoyed over those events after an hour or so.
Already his day had turned out quite different than what he thought it was going to go when he woke up in the morning.
Like usual, he had woken up with a killer hangover, swearing that he would never touch another bottle of alcohol ever again, and slowly sobered up thanks greatly in part to Benn being the only one sober enough to start a pot (see over a dozen) of coffee in preparation for the slow moving hoard that was hung over pirates who could smell the roasted beans.
A few hours later, and a few coffee pots just for himself, and he was ready to head back to Party's Bar for a drink and good conversation. It may have taken a month but he had slowly been growing closer to Makino, and she obviously had been growing closer to him as well, and he could see himself asking her to wait for him.
What he hadn't expected was an all but ghost town in place of the just yesterday bustling town. And a quick investigation in Party's Bar showed the once not immaculate (that was Tifa's house) but not run down building that looked like either a bull had run through or Luffy had attempted to use his new devil fruit powers.
The lack or animal signs and lack of Makino looking after Luffy disproved both of those ideas so that left Shanks with the idea that something else, something worse, had happened in the last twelve hours or so since he left the bar.
A quick look with Observation Haki showed him where he could find everyone.
And that was where he could argue that his day took the turn for the worse.
The mountain bandits with their laughable eight million beri bounty were back and threatening Luffy, something he couldn't stand for both as a pirate and as a father. It was a no brainer that they would teach those fools a lesson, not even having to break a sweat in doing so because they clearly had no idea just who they were pissing off. He did freak out though, he will admit that, when the leader of the mountain bandits had escaped with Luffy, throwing the boy into the sea and almost killing him.
Giving up one of his arms in exchange for Luffy's life seemed like a fair trade.
It was during the time when Roo was wrapping up what was left his arm and he was trying to convince Makino that yes, he was fine, no he wasn't going to die anytime soon, and no it was not her fault he was now missing an arm, that Benn had walked up with both an ashen looking face and the transponder snail with Tifa's seafoam green eyes that he knew something was wrong.
He just hadn't expected the news that call brought with it.
Leaving his hat with Luffy, and a promise to see the boy again, he boarded the Red Force with the rest of his crew, all of them knowing where their next stop was to be as his daughter was in possible danger and he needed to be with her yesterday.
A/N:
Well, not gonna lie here, I never expected to actually get three chapters of this story done and posted on this site.
Meant to have this out earlier today but you know...life kinda happened.
As always, make sure the rate, review, or what ever it is that people do on this site because your comments help me gain inspiration to continue writing Wren's story.