"So what brings you here on this fine evening, Mihawk?" Shanks asked, pouring his old acquaintance a drink.

"You have something of mine, apparently," Mihawk responded coolly, taking the drink. Shanks looked at him, puzzled.

"Something of...? Oh! That! Of course. Well you really shouldn't leave your things lying around like that, it's very careless," Shanks scolded him. Bara glared at him, angry at being referred to as a "thing".

"Ooooh, Sencho-san, just wait til Bara tells her pop what you've been doing to her all this time. You'll really get it then," Lucky Roux said with an innocent grin. Mihawk's attention was immediately piqued.

Shanks scoffed a bit nervously. "I didn't do a thing to her, don't listen to him. OR HER," he added, glaring at Bara and pointing an accusing finger. Mihawk narrowed his eyes at Shanks warningly.

Bara decided to be merciful...for now. Melia might be a bit upset at bloodshed. "Naw, he was no worse than the rest of the crew, really. They're all just a bunch of drunken idiots."

Mihawk nodded, completely understanding what she was talking about. Shanks opened his mouth to say something but decided not to press his luck any more than it had already been pressed for him (thanks to his dear friend Lucky Roux). He shrugged and looked around for Melia.

Melia had actually been present through the whole discussion, but had said nothing and barely moved more than it was necessary to breathe. She knew she was in no immediate danger but like Shanks, wasn't going to press her luck (even though she didn't really have Lucky Roux to worry about). She knew very well who Bara's father was, and had for some time, but never really thought about it and never had seen him in person, so before tonight he might as well have never existed as far as she was concerned.

"Well, Mihawk, yer welcome to stay the night with us if you'd like. We plan on sleeping in yonder cavern," Shanks said with a dramatic wave of his hand in the cave's direction. "Of course, we don't actually plan on going to sleep for hours yet."

"I believe I'll stay here and speak with Bara until you decide to go to sleep," Mihawk replied. "I'm most likely leaving the island after that."

"Suit yourself!" Shanks said cheerfully, stretching out on a log. "Feel free to keep Bara out of our hair for as long as you like."

(-----)

"How've you been since I last saw you, Daddy?" Bara inquired of Mihawk. They had walked a short distance from the field so they could talk in peace and were now sitting across from each other on the forest ground.

Now, being one of the seven Warlords of the Sea, Mihawk possessed great intuition. In fact, he'd been worried sick several times as his internal radar picked up the terror and sadness of his family, but Mihawk would never admit that, especially not to his daughter. So he merely nodded towards Bara and replied, "Just fine. How have you handled yourself since you've been on your own?"

"I've been fine too," Bara said, smiling. "Like I told you, I found a job on a cruise line waiting in their restaurants and such. And that's where I met my sister Melia, too. She's my age and sometimes all we have is each other and our job."

"And you left this job to come join Shanks' crew?" Mihawk stared at her in mild confusion. Bara shook her head and laughed.

"No, no, Daddy. They kidnapped me. I mean, they didn't mean to. They mistook me for Melia."

"...they mistook you for that black-haired girl?"

"No!" Bara had to laugh at how bad her explanations were. She was so excited to see her father again that she just couldn't speak straight. "No, see, Melia's actually Shanks' sister, but she didn't know it, so he came to get her, and he sent some crewmen out to get her and when they saw my red hair they assumed I must be related to Captain Shanks."

"...I see," Mihawk said, musing over her awkward explanation for a moment. Then he looked his daughter up and down, soft pride forming in his formidable hawk-eyes. "...your hair isn't even close to the same shade of red as that idiot's."

"Well, I guess his crew is even more stupid than he is," Bara responded with a shrug. It was true that she looked nothing like Shanks. Her fierce eyes were the same honey-shade of her fathers, only hers were much softer...like her mother's. Well, they were really only soft compared to Mihawk's. Her glare was still rather intimidating. Her nose was small and sharp, as if to emphasize the strong spirit her eyes conveyed. Her hands, although small, looked very strong and capable, and her shoulders were always proudly squared. Her straight, reddish (actually almost strawberry-blonde) hair was a little past shoulder length, as her father noticed.

"...You stopped cutting your hair," he observed with a touch of disapproval. "Don't you remember what I told you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember, Daddy, but I haven't had anyone to spar with, so it hasn't gotten in my way, and even if it did, all I have to do is put it in a ponytail or a bun, like they always made me do at work anyway. It's really easy to take care of, all I have to do is wash and brush it, same as when it was short. And it really makes me feel...prettier...when my hair is longer." Bara looked at her father and pleaded with her slanted eyes. He merely sighed and nodded with closed eyes as if he'd been expecting such a breach in training.

He opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment longer before telling her in a tone as tender as he could muster (which still sounded anything but tender to the casual listener), "You look just like your mother did when she was your age."

"That's what everyone in the village said. They said I'd grow up to look just like her. I don't...remember too well, but I think they were right," Bara said with a bittersweet smile. She was very pleased to receive a compliment like that from her father. "...thank you, Daddy."

(-----)

Melia glanced over toward where Bara and Mihawk were conversing with a bit of unease. She had always been just a little insecure by nature and and the thought of being left friendless always made her nervous...especially since she really only had one friend.

Shanks looked at her and laughed. "Don't worry kid, the chances of anyone wanting to even be close to a crab like Mihawk for very long are pretty low. She won't go with him or anything, I feel pretty sure of it."

"Well, he IS her father," Yasopp pointed out thoughtfully as he poured himself another drink. Shanks flicked him in the back of the head discreetly and lipped to him, "Shut it."

Turning back to Melia with a light laugh he added to Yasopp's comment, "...which is all the more reason she wouldn't want to stay with him. I mean, if he was MY father I'd be running the other direction."

"If HE was YOUR father, you'd be dead," Lucky Roux said, shaking his head at his Captain, whose childish retort was to stick out his tongue.

"YOU'LL be dead if you say something like that to Mihawk again," he muttered.

Melia couldn't help but laugh a little. She smiled at Shanks, feeling a bit better. "Well, she might leave if she gets a chance to be 'rescued', Onii-tama," she said, still laughing.

"That doesn't sound like something Mihawk's likely to offer," Benn Beckman remarked, almost to himself, and put out a cigarette by shoving it into a rock. "He's not best known for being the warm-hearted type."

"Yeah, if you wanna know anything about warm-heartedness, just ask Beckman over here," Shanks advised Melia, who just raised an eyebrow in confusion as her brother turned and gave Benn an insolent look. Benn just shook his head at him, hiding a smile.

Shanks turned back to Melia and patted her head. "I think your Bara loves you too much to just leave you anyway."

"I know, I know she does, I know all that, I'm just very...clingy, I guess..." Melia sighed. "Or something like that."

"Nonsense, you just love your sister," Shanks comforted her with a warm smile, then laughed. "Like me."

Melia smiled back and poked his shoulder. "...so much that you have to kidnap her? And then take her out in the middle of the ocean to God-knows-where and expect her to sleep in a cave full of bats?"

"But I thought you liked bats!" Shanks said plaintively, then grinned and finished off yet another bottle of grog.

Melia merely frowned and sighed with feigned contempt.