The next time Wren see her papa she is almost nine and he is missing both his iconic straw hat and one of his arms.

She doesn't really know how to feel at the sight of her now one armed papa. Mostly, she is shocked because he looks so different from when she last saw him but she is also scared because both the missing straw hat and arm tells her that he has met Luffy and it means that time is moving faster than what she was mentally prepared for.

So all she can do is cry as she hold tight on to her papa and try not to compare his looser hug with one arm to the tighter hugs he used to give her when he had both of his arms.

The house is quiet, something that hasn't occurred in eight nearly nine years.

They had sent Wren out of the house, making her promise to stay close to the house the boundaries being the edge of the trees that surround the house and under no circumstances was she to step one foot past those lines. And under no circumstances was she to suppress her aura.

He couldn't for sure say but deep in his gut the look his daughter gave him told him that she had a good idea just what they were going to discuss even if Tifa had sworn that she had not uttered a word of what had happened with Akainu all those months ago or the phone call between the two of them.

The clinking of glass against wood drew his eyes up from where he had been staring at the table to look at Tifa, hair half out of the ponytail she had put it in when they had first started talking about options and eyes weary and obviously weighed down with the stress of the situation, as she ran her hand back through her hair letting loose more strands as she let out a sigh. "What are our options?"

He feels like he's aged ten years just stepping foot in the house, "If it had been Garp I wouldn't worry as much." As much as the man was a marine through and through he was also honorable enough for his late captain to hold the old marine dog in high regards so he was willing to do the same. "Just give it a few months and a couple of visits here and there and they would eventually stop. But it's-"

"It's Akainu." Tifa finished for him, trailing off with a quiet voice. "And we both know he won't let this go. He's probably already heard you're back here and is trying to get the clearance to investigate why." Her grip tightened on the glass to the point where her already pale skin turned even whiter. "I know he suspects I know you. And it would be nothing for him to locate me at home and see Wren before I could hide her away somewhere." A crack appeared on the glass, "He'll see her and he won't see a little girl not even nine, he'll just see the blood of a pirate." Her voice wavered as her head bowed so the pink strands of her hair covered her face but Shanks knew from the few drops that appeared on the table that she was crying. "He won't see my little girl, he'll-"

"He'll just see me." He pulled out the one other seat at the table, slumping down into it and taking both of Tifa's small hands into his, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles to both try and sooth her and calm himself. He also knew a day like this would come, he just never thought it would be soon into Wren's young life that he would need to take her and hide her somewhere safe. Part of him had always hoped that this day would never come, or when it did it would be when she was older because he may play dumb but he was not stupid by any means and knew that Wren was reaching that point in her life when she was going to need her mother and he hated to have to take her away from Tifa before that time even came.

He could feel guilt well up in his gut. He should have better prepared both of them and himself for this day, should have at least attempted once in the last eight years to convince Tifa it was in Wren's best interest if she would leave with him to the New World, even if he didn't have many islands under his name - or really any at the beginning of Wren's life - he could have at least snuck the two of them into Whitebeard's territory with the old man being none the wiser.

"I'm sorry Tifa." He let her hands go, and ran his fingers through his own hair having to hold back a flinch when he didn't knock off his captain's straw hat momentarily forgetting he had left it with his favourite little anchor back on Dawn Island. "This is my fault."

"Shut up, Shanks." There was no real heat behind her words as one hand came up to wipe at her eyes as she lifted her head to look at him with red rimmed eyes. "It's my fault too. I should have better prepared for this day. Fuck." She left out a breath, "Just, fuck." She stood up, moving only a few feet to the sink and refilling her glass but turning back to face him instead choosing to look out the window at the clear sky.

Shanks couldn't help but agree. They were between a rock and a hard place now and once Akainu got word he had returned to Volca he would scour the entire island, not just stick to the towns this time, to try and find just what - who - made him come back here every year. He would need to leave within the next twenty four hours and Wren would need to come with him, but where could he hide her? She needed somewhere no one would expect to find her, where she could grow up and have a maternal figure around when needed.

There were no islands under his control that he could leave her at - he didn't really 'control' them anyways he just stored a large amount of alcohol on them and smart people knew not to touch those islands unless they were living on them. Any island under both Kaido and Big Mom's controls were thrown out the window and it was bad enough Whitebeard seemed to show up on the island once every year now - luckily after the first incident with Wren meeting that first mate of Newgate Tifa stopped letting her go into town by herself - and he would investigate any reason why he stopped at one of his islands.

He needed a place to hide her, like his little anchor.

No. Not like his anchor. Exactly like his anchor.

He could hide her right under the noses of the marines, right under Garp's nose.

Red hair wasn't uncommon, it wasn't common but it wasn't rare and he had met people with red hair before just not the same shade that he had and that plus the shape her eyes were taking plus the slightly tanned skin were about the only physical features of his that she had. And once people looked at her eyes, they seemed to ignore her hair - or so his crew had told him and it was the same as when he first met Tifa but only years of knowing her had allowed him to focus on other physical features besides her eyes.

It was risky, fuck was it risky, but it was probably the best option they had at this point because a pirate ship was no place to raise his daughter and there was no telling what the marines would do next now that they probably knew he was back at the island. No one would expect the daughter of Red-Haired Shanks to leave his daughter on Garp the Fist's home island in the weakest sea.

Makino would be on the island and could be the motherly figure she needed, and Wren he could entrust her to look after Luffy because he was willing to bet his other arm that the kid would need someone to look after him and who better than his own daughter.

Tifa would hate the idea though, but he knew she would know it the best option at this point.

He rubbed his face with his hand, "I know a place." He caught Tifa stiffening her back at his words from the corner of his eyes. "It's nowhere near the Grand Line or the New World. It's a small village, friendly people, no one really cared that we were there as long as we didn't destroy anything. There are some kids around her age so she won't be lonely. It's a good place for her. Safe." He nodded at the last bit for himself, to reassure himself that yes, this was the best option for Wren even if that meant he may never see her again before she took to the sea - if she took to the sea.

"What's her name?" He jerked his head around, not expecting Tifa to have both responded in that way or to have turned around, one hand crossing over her chest to grip the upper part of the other with a blank look on her face, only her eyes showing the sadness she was feeling. "I'm not stupid; you got the same look on your face that you used to give me when you thought I wasn't looking." She approached her abandoned chair, slowly slinking herself down into it and laying one of her hands on his cheek. "She must be beautiful." She shot him a small smile, not her iconic roguish one but a smile nonetheless.

He couldn't help the small chuckle, "Rivals you the first time I met you."

"I had a broken nose and a black eye." She snorted, her smile stretching just a bit wider as she dropped her hand, a serious look coming over her face. "What's the catch?" She crossed her arms over her chest, sea coloured eyes glowing in the slowly setting light. "There's always a catch so what is it?"

She was going to hate it, probably want to strangle him but definitely hate the idea. "It's ah; it's the home island of Garp-"

Her hands slammed down on the table, knocking over both of their glasses and the salt and pepper shakers, "You want me to send Wren where! Are you fucking brain damaged!" The chair toppled over as she shot up, "You want to send Wren to the home island of a fucking Vice-Admiral! That's just as bad as leaving her here!"

"I'll go."

The only sound in the room was Tifa's glass rolling off the table and shattering as it hit the ground as Wren pushed herself off the archway into the kitchen, coming up to stand between both himself and Tifa, stepping carefully over the glass shards.

"How much did you hear?" Tifa's face was pale, as she hesitantly stepped towards Wren, crouching down to her level and carefully brushing away some of the glass so she didn't cut her bare knees.

Wren just shrugged, shifting her weight from foot to foot, "Enough." She shot him a quick look from the corner of her eyes that he was just able to catch. "I'm not stupid, I know how dangerous it is for me if the marines come back and if papa says he knows a safe place then I'm willing to go there." Her small hand reached out to take a fistful of his overcoat, "I trust him. So should you."

Tifa took in an audible sharp breath and Shanks could feel his own catch in his throat, and she slowly pulled Wren closer to her, tucking her tightly under her chin as he could see tears start down her high cheek bones once again and could see in her eyes that as much as it pained her she was willing to let Wren leave with him. "I don't want to lose you, Wren." Tifa's voice was shaking, and as much as he wanted to crouch down to their level and draw them into his own hug he knew that this was something the two of them needed.

"You're not mama; you're giving me the best chance." Wren's voice was also shaking; now that her face was hidden he knew she was letting her true emotions out. No little girl ever wants to be separated from their mother. "And that's what parents are supposed to do; give their kids the best chance."

If he didn't know better, Shanks would have thought that Wren was speaking from experience but that couldn't be she had to have just heard that during a trip into town and must have stuck with her.

"Shanks." Tifa's voice was hard as well as her eyes as she clutched Wren closer to her as much as she could as their daughter still had yet to let go of his overcoat. "Can you do me a solid and promise me that she will be safe, that nothing bad will happen to her on that island."

He couldn't promise that. He knew she knew that he couldn't promise that but he also knew she needed to hear from the horse's mouth, from his own mouth, that she would be safe.

"She'll be safer than if she stayed here." And that was all he could really promise because who knows what Garp would do if he ever made the connection between Wren and himself.

They leave the house only a few short hours later when the sun has just set and there are only a few stars in the deep purple sky.

For all that she owns in her small room at the back of the house, she has packed everything she thinks she will need to at least last her until she gets to Dawn Island in two bags; both filled to the brim with clothes (multiple shirts, a few pants and shorts, and various pairs of both underwear and socks) and barely able to hold her notebook, the one with all her notes from the Before and what she knew of this world, and the daggers - four of them with the idea that two were for now and two were for when she got. Older - that her mama gifted to her before she stepped out of the house, and a single picture of her mother holding her when she was only a few months old and had a napkin hat on her head.

She takes no toys, no blankets that kept her warm during the winter seasons, and none of the books that line her shelf back in her room - her old room. The less she takes the better because maybe this was when the original Wren dies, maybe she survived to be eight almost nine but on this trip to Dawn Island didn't make it so they less he takes the better; it leaves less for her papa to mourn over if - when - she doesn't survive the trip.

The heaviest thing she carries is her mama's last words to her; "You may carry your father's blood but the sins of the parent should never be the sins of the child." It was a saying that she had heard even in the Before and it...bothers her that those words now pertain to her and not the strangers around her.

Maybe, maybe if she's lucky and makes the trip to Dawn Island, and somehow finds Ace up in the forest she can drill that into his thick head so maybe, just maybe when - if - the war does happen he won't be as helpless. He will fight to survive because blood doesn't define who you are, your actions do.

She wants to look back, to run back, with every step she takes - one hand in her papa's - away from her home from what is familiar but she knows she can't because once she looks back her resolve will crumble and the tears she is holding back will start up and she won't cry, she can't cry because tears are for the weak and she is not weak, she is the daughter of Red-Haired Shanks one of the four Emperors of the sea, or at least one of the future Emperors, and one of the most feared men by the marines.

"-do you want to stay in it tonight?" The sound of her papa's voice shocks her out of her thoughts as the Red Force looms in the bay, the only ship there and slightly lit with numerous shadowed figures moving on board. "Wren? Do you want to stay with me tonight?" It clicks in her mind that her papa is asking if she wants to stay by herself or with him and as much as she knows she is going to want something familiar, in this case him, she also knows that she wants to be by herself for her inevitable breakdown.

"No." She has to hold back the flinch at how quiet her voice is and knows that her papa has caught just how small she feels. Sure, she had worn a brave face back at the house but that was then and this was now. "I'd like to stay by myself." She wouldn't but she knows she must because she is leaving behind her mother and soon her papa will leave her behind so it's better to get used to not having to rely on him for comfort.

He stops, and crouches down in front of her and she wishes he didn't because at least when they were walking in the direction of the Red Force her mind could focus on that and not on turning tail and running home. "It's okay to be scared about leaving, Wren."

"I'm not scared." She mumbled, not looking up at his face because it was obvious just how much she did not want to leave. She would need to relearn (re-teach?) herself how to hide her emotions better. "Just never been on a boat before." Which is partially true, Wren had never been on a boat - ship her dad would argue back in the Before - but Charlotte had worked on a few the last few years of her life.

"Ship, Songbird." Her papa ruffled her hair out of the single large braid her mama had put it in before they left her behind earning a look of displeasure from Wren as her brows furrowed, eyes narrowed, and lips pouted. "It's a ship, not a boat." He stood back up, grabbing her hand yet again and Wren was happy he was dropping the subject about leaving the island as walking now gave her something else to focus on, mainly not tripping on falling on her face as she stumbled over larger sized rocks.

She can't help but compare the sounds her of papa's foot steps to hers, heavy and slow against light and quick just like her mama - "Dancer's feet," her mama had told her, "Light and quick." - as they walk the gangplank to the top deck of the Red Force and she realizes that there is no turning back now, especially once they reach the top deck and her father is already barking out orders - "Raise the gangplank! Hoist the sails! Weigh anchor! Benn, you're in charge. I'll be in my quarters."

Wren half wants to stay on the deck to watch what the crew does, she can compare it to a dance the way everyone moves in sync with each other, but the other half of her still wants to hide away from the eyes, and there are many eyes, watching her waiting for her to break down because that's what they expect her to do and she is thankful when her papa pulls her gently to follow after him into the depths of the ship.

Shanks started pointing out rooms to her; the galley, kitchen, crew barracks number one, bathroom number one, medical bay, crew barracks number two, bathroom number two, his quarters, and finally-

"Your room." He opens the door to what had to have once been a store room from how small it was and was directly across from his own quarters. Close enough that if anything happened he was right there but still just that far enough away that she was not in the same room or in a room attached to his giving her some privacy.

It's small, as she said, really just big enough for a rope hammock with a simple pillow and blanket, and a small dresser with two shelves barely even two feet long and already that took up just over half the room. What bothered her most was not the size, she was still small - was Charlotte this small when they were the same age? She had a blurry memory of staring at door frame with various lines that had to be doing nothing but listing heights - so a small room didn't bother her, but it was the distinct lack of a window of any size. In her room, her old room, there was a large window that faced the water behind her house and gave off lots of natural light, now the only light she had was from the four lamps hanging in each corner of the room.

Her papa dropped both her bag and her hand, not in that order but reversed, as he stood in the doorway to her room, rubbing the back of his neck with his now free hand. Was he nervous? Wren really couldn't tell and her Observation Haki that she had just starting getting trained enough to 'sense' emotions - her mama could only teach her so much as Observation Haki was not her affinity - was telling her nothing.

"I'll, ah, leave you to get settled." She barely got her head turned in his direction before he got to the door to his own cabin and closed it behind him leaving her alone, on a strange ship, in the middle of the night with only the sounds of the waves crashing against the sides of the Red Force and the muffled noises of the crew trying to get said ship under control so that they themselves could get some shut eye.

A bad wave hit the ship, tilting it back and forth causing Wren to stumble into a wall, bruising her shoulder from the impact and causing the door to sway close with an audible click.

The first week or so was...well...bad didn't really begin to cover it.

During the days, she put on a brave face and followed either her papa or Benn - because he was really the only responsible adult on the ship - around and tried to stay out of the way of most everyone else, really only stopping to talk with Roo, or Yasopp when they asked how she was settling in.

Nights were the worst for her right now, half the time she wanted to bawl her eyes out and the other half of the time her stomach wanted her to lose whatever was in her stomach and unfortunately her stomach usually was winning the battle and she was just lucky that so far she hadn't needed to make a run to any of the bathrooms in the middle of the night so she was saved that embarrassment.

The second week was only a little better at night. Her stomach had finally settled, as had most of her emotions but every now and then she would get a pang of homesickness and wish she was back with her mama but it would eventually pass leaving her awake for no reason well into the early hours of the morning with felt like only two hours of rest by the time her papa came knocking on the door to her room.

That, thankfully, seemed end by the third week and she finally stopped walking around in a daze - which was quite dangerous on a ship at sea now that she thought about it - and earning concerned looks from everyone she passed because the bags under her eyes had bags and she could finally appreciate being on the open ocean, being free.

"Hey, kiddo." Wren plopped herself down on the deck between Benn and Yasopp, with a book...liberated from her papa's room and now had tucked under her arm. "What do ya have there?" He asked as Wren cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brow at the cards laid out on the deck in front of her; one ace of hearts, a ten of clubs, and the four of clubs, and showed the brown leather bound encyclopedia of the world. "Isn't that a bit advanced for someone your age?" He threw in what looked like a thousand beri's.

Wren shrugged, Charlotte had read higher leveled textbooks in college in the Before, so a book this size was nothing, and propped open the book, half focusing on the information about the Florian Triangle (that sounded familiar and she could just barely remember something about Brooke being in a place that had the word triangle in it) and half focusing on the game of poker - it finally clicked in her head when Risk (tall guy, skinny, brown eyes, black hair, glasses on top of his head, had a thing for whips, quite forgettable and the only reason Wren knew his name was because Yasopp said it was his turn) folded - going on in front of her.

"Yeah, kid," Yasopp piped in after putting his tankard back on the deck and wiped away the foam on his lips, "wouldn't you rather read something like Noland the Liar?" He threw in his own raise of two thousand beri's when his turn came back around.

"Read it already." Wren stopped trying to read the book, on trying to focus on the game. There weren't many books for children back at her old house and the story of Noland the Liar had been one of the few there but there was only so many times a person could read a book before they got bored, and Wren couldn't help that feeling in the back of her head anytime she read the story that there was some truth to the tale and maybe she should check her notebook to see if she wrote something down about it. "What are you guys playing?" She picked up the book off her lap and moved it under her so she was sitting on it, giving her an extra three inches in height.

Yasopp and Benn shared a smile over her head; Benn's more dignified in a way she couldn't really describe as Yasopp's had a cunning look in his eyes. "Poker, kid. Wanna learn?" The sniper grinned bigger as Wren nodded, pulling her into his lap with a small squeak in surprise from her at the action. "Once you get the hang of this, we'll teach you how to hustle your dad and won't that be fun." The 'for us' went unspoken but Wren could still hear in it his voice as they were dealt their two cards from the deck and Yasopp went on to explain about rivers and how to judge if your hand was good or not based on said rivers.

"Wh-what the! Who taught you how to play poker!" Her papa's mouth resembled a fish with the amount of opening and closing it did as he fisted handfuls of his hair and paged at her, mostly at her smiling face as she pulled the pot full of money towards her.

Damn, Yasopp was right.

It was fun hustling her papa.

A/N:

Not gonna lie, this chapter almost didn't happen for a variety of reasons, most of that stemming from a serious reason in my personal life that killed any inspiration to write.

As always, please review as your comments help me improve my writing and I wish to give you guys the best story that I can.