Prologue
Anchors are an irreplaceable source of safety. On the surface, anchors are the devices that keep ships from straying on the wild , sturdy chunks of metal slapped and mended together into that notorious crescent moon-shaped crown with the twin fluke-tips and the stable shank in the middle. A majestically simple balancing act compressed on a piece of human ingenuity.
But beneath the scientific explanation, there lay a meaning in the anchor that only the eyes of the most insightful could pick up on. The eyes of the artist, the writer, the true sailor…the eyes of the girl he fell for so dearly.
Which is why he thought the gift he had crafted with his own hand (he had extra pairs of crafty hands to assist him of course) was the perfect parting gift he could give her.
—
It was nighttime. The Sun had set and Dawn Island would meet with its dawn after 8 hours. In the meantime, Makino made sure Garp's boys - her boys, as well - were put to sleep.
Let their young, beautiful minds rest while their 'big sister' handled the mess at the bar. She had stated something of the sort earlier.
She had lulled them to their beds with a familiar shanty song and read them a story about a joyous giant with a straw hat.
They were already plenty tired, one from the party, the other - avoiding social interaction; so all she needed to do was get their attention with some smaller snacks and lead them to the bedroom.
Makino smiled, touching Ace and Luffy's cheeks. Her soft, delicate hands and their chubby cheeks melded together like the sweetest of silk. Their warmth made her heart flutter in something not unlike parental affection.
Makino and all of Foosha Village collectively agreed, though not verbally or officially, that the massive Dadan was their mother-figure, but Dadan herself always claimed that it was Makino who was the closest thing to a mother these boys have.
Makino personally cared not if she was seen as a mother, a sister or just that nice friend from the local bar. Vanity practically didn't exist in her being. Driven purely by the pure desire to take care of those around her, nurture their needs as best she could and let joy settle in.
Because to Makino, joy was the most important thing in life. That's why the little tale with the joyful giant was a favorite of hers.
For some reason, on that night, her attention was more on Ace than Luffy. Seeing Luffy party like an animal, under the Red-Haired Pirates' trustworthy monitoring, gave her relief and happiness. However, Ace had avoided the bar that night. That had Makino worrying.
She sought him out, trusting her bar in Ben Beckman's capable hands, and found him strolling anxiously through the woods. He had explained, through tight lisp, that he should be avoiding pirates, especially notorious ones like the Red-Haired Pirates.
If there's a chance someone dangerous finds out who his father was, it would lead to a disaster.
It was a cruel excuse to seclude himself in his own bubble, but it had its intended effect of convincing Makino to ultimately let him be. He ended up running around the forest, beating up all kinds of beasts, returning to her bar only after the boisterous Red-Haired Pirates had gone back to their ship. He had been as tired as Luffy was.
A pang of fear struck the young woman's heart. For some reason, Ace's words felt like a chilling prophecy with an unspecified time date.
Makino hoped with all her being that the truth of Portgas D. Ace's parentage never saw the light of day.
Looking at him now, his presence there seemed so fragile, so…temporary.
She sighed, breath heavy with her worry, and planted a delicate kiss on both boys' foreheads. Albeit unconscious, they smiled, cheeks getting a tint of pink.
A bit later, Makino was back on the main floor of Party's, sweeping the dust with her broom and moving abandoned, half-empty tankards around. Some to be cleaned, others - having already dried off - to be put in their respective shelves.
She was used to this type of work, being Party's sole barmaid and all. It actually helped keep her mind off things.
But just as she thought the night would remain undisturbed, someone slid through the bar doors. They did it stealthily.
Of course, those cranky wooden geezers made as much noise as the Mayor. It was impossible to enter without making any sound.
The bar was quiet and Makino already had exceptionally sharp ears. If the intruder thought they could try something funny with her, she'd-
"Boo!"
"Ah!"
Her hands immediately swiped the broom in a big arch, smacking her possible attacker square in the face with as much force as her five feet, ninety pound body could muster. It had the intended effect of making the other person stumble back with a grunt.
She took several quick steps back, thankfully without tripping on any litter left unaccounted for, until she felt the cold touch of the building's wall against her tense shoulder blades. She let out a quiet whimper, but forced herself to stand firm.
Her scared features setting into a glare, she pointed the tip of the broom right at the mysterious night-raider. She held it almost as if it was a sword in her hands and not just a meagre cleaning tool.
The figure chuckled, and that confused Makino for an instant, before she recognised them. How could she not?
Even if his sizable black cloak made him as obscure as a night-wraith, the plain-looking straw hat with its red strip was like a flaring mark with his name on it. She gasped, the flutter in her heart becoming lighter and less suffocating, yet still so excitable.
"S-Shanks?!" she cried out his name in a hushed tone.
"Oh, don't be so sure, kitten. I might be a night-crawler posing as your most beloved!"
Makino threw the broom, hitting him in the face again. The red-haired menace groaned as he rubbed his stricken nose.
"Oi, not the face! What else do I have left after losing my good arm?" he whined.
"What you certainly don't have is common sense!" Makino chided him, her tone still hushed. "And be quiet! Luffy's sleeping upstairs!"
"Oh…" Shanks mouthed, his impish grin diminishing a little. "Sorry."
Makino ignored him for the moment, looking worriedly at the stairs. She listened for the sound of meek creaks, the type boy feet make on the floor. When she heard none, she let out a sigh, and with it some of her anxiety.
It's not that she minded Shanks spooking her like this, but that night especially she felt on edge, because of what Ace had said. She rubbed her temples, soothing her nerves.
"It's okay…" Makino told the captain softly. But then she reconsidered and grew angry, the fingers rubbing her head now forming a clenched fist. "Wait, no, it's not! Why did you scare me like that?!"
"Ahaha…! Come on, can't a friend play a little prank on you?"
He received an unamused glare in response.
"Alright, alright…I admit, it was a bit distasteful to pay you a nightly visit like this," said Shanks.
Makino's furrowed brows loosened immediately, her expression softening. "It's fine. I don't really mind you popping out in the dark of the night like a red imp."
"An imp, eh? Ben's already told you I'm as hot as Hell itself, no?" Shanks asked, humour rich in his voice, as his brow arched her way and his grin shot up like an enthusiastic child.
Makino, despite her demure glare, felt a flutter in her gut. Something tempted her to bite back with her own sarcasm.
"Hmm? No. He did call you a 'devil in an angel's body'." said Makino and then gave his bewildered stare a cheeky little shrug. "He may be into you."
Shanks blinked at her and shook his head, laughing the statement off, while awkwardly rubbing his straw hat.
"I don't blame him! I'd be into me, too!" Shanks stated, pointing at himself for emphasis "I mean, have you seen me? You can't find a body like this in any of the Blues!"
"I've seen one, actually." Makino said.
"Where?" Shanks shot the question with a hint of suspicion.
"In my bed." Makino answered. That must've hit his mind like a sledgehammer given his expression - a shocked leer with a glaring blush.
"Oho! Do they happen to be red-haired, strong and sexy as a deity?"
"Mm, no. They're blue-haired, dark-skinned and look like a mountain of muscles." Makino said, her head tilting in demure smugness, enjoying how much her words visibly messed with his brain.
"...Are you trying to describe one of Big Mom's sons?" he asked, hand rubbing his chin. His expression was so deliberately thoughtful that it looked comical.
Makino couldn't contain the little giggle that escaped her pretty lips, catching the captain's undivided attention. She hid her smile behind her fingers.
"Hey, Makino, I've got something to tell you."
"Ah-what is it, Captain?" Makino's giggles faded as she saw Shanks open his mouth, but pause the words that wanted to get out. His brows were furrowed a bit.
"I…Sorry, I thought it'd be easier to tell you this, but…" he bit his lip. He sighed and shook his head, composing his gaze. "Makino, me and the boys are sailing off."
"Oh."
"After Luffy ate that devil fruit, Ben and I had a talk and we've decided to speed up our future plans a little. We'll be diving straight into the Grand Line and into the New World."
"Oh…"
"I've already told you a hundred stories about those places, but I really can't stress enough how dangerous a voyage through them is. A lot of crews just can't make it. And it's not hard to get lost and take an unfortunate detour."
"..."
Makino. chose to stare at him silently with her big, selkie-like, which had a seemingly unnerving effect on the red-haired man.
"What I wanted to say was…I…ugh, why is this so hard?!" Shanks turned to the side, grumbling perhaps to himself in a hushed tone. Makino still heard him.
"You're not coming back, are you?" she asked. The question had been on her lips since his demeanor changed and he started talking about sailing off.
'We're sailing off' - the way he uttered it this time was less enthusiastic, less…lively. He never ever talked about a future voyage like this, like it was more of a burden than fun.
She saw him turn his head further away for a hot second and her heart throbbed, probing her to reach out and touch his hand.
But before she could, his hand became a blur and Makino shuddered from the sudden motions. She blinked, finding herself held by the hand, his fingers entwined with her. But something cold and hard was pressing between their hands, where there should've been warmth.
She pulled her hand away gently and he let her take the object with her.
"Captain…" she gasped. In her hand was a miniature anchor. It was of the most intricate and dazzling craft she had ever seen on a metallic object. And she lived two years of her life tending to this guy and his crew. She recognised good metal from bad metal. This was godly metal. "This is…"
She was genuinely at a loss for words.
"A parting gift." Shanks added for her. She looked up to meet his eyes. They had a hard edge to them now.
"Did…did you make this?' she asked, her chest feeling heavy all of the sudden. "This isn't something you can find on the East Blue."
"Mhm." Shanks rubbed his head, his composure breaking a bit with an awkward blush. "I had this on my mind ever since we started making preparations. Honestly, at first I tried making it on my own, but turns out you can't craft for shit with one hand. Heh…"
Makino didn't say anything at that. She was too stunned and trying to gather her thoughts. She realized at that moment he must've worked tirelessly, despite repetitive failure, to make this. And sure enough, snatching his hand with her free one and bringing it up for close inspection confirmed that.
His fingers were dark and rough, a bit swollen at certain angles, with patches of burnt skin here and there. What more evidence did she need?
She stared at his hand in silence, the downward tilt of her head making her fairly long bangs obscure her eyes.
"Oh by the way, we made it from a seastone chunk I took from Oro Jackson's storage room after our visit to Wano."
Makino's head whipped up, shock adorning her features. A lump of emotions formed in her throat, constraining her breathing a bit. A gift of seastone, custom-made, for her. This was ludicrous.
"S-seastone?! That's…Captain, why would you…"
"What do you mean 'why'?" Shanks asked, confusedly rubbing his neck and staring at her with a quirked brow and a frown which quickly turned into a beaming smirk. "How else did you expect me to repay you for treating me and my boys so well for so long?! The least I could do is give you this. A gift as beautiful as you are - something to remember me by."
She couldn't contain them anymore. The tears poured from her eyes like water from cracks in a dam. Were they of sadness or happiness, or both? She herself couldn't say exactly...Moonlight reflected off of them, catching Shanks' attention.
"Hey, hey, are you crying? Why are you crying, my sweet? Did I say something wrong?" she stared at his eyes, gray and worried. She could almost feel the thumping of his heart, matching hers. "Err, too much? Is it too much? I know you don't like it when I try to shower you with riches, so I tried to make it-"
"It's perfect, you fool." Makino said, her melodic voice overlapping with his powerful timbre, shocking him still. She stepped forward, her small form embracing his body. Her head nuzzled against the crook of his neck. "But seastone? You didn't have to go that far."
Shanks blinked before letting out a content sigh and putting his hand on the straw hat still perched up on his red hair.
"Well, miss, I'll have you know: we had no other use for that seastone. Our haki is strong enough to deal with the devils' powers."
He grasped the Straw Hat and lifted it from his head.
"But, more importantly…"
Makino felt him shift a little and looked up shyly. At that moment, he placed the Straw Hat on her head and she choked on a gasp.
"It suits your hair way better than regular old metal." he finished with a grin that split his face. His sentence was resumed by a booming laugh at her flustered reaction.
Makino - Foosha Village's notorious barmaid and a caretaker of Ace, Luffy and Sabo when they were younger.
She is one of the few Garp entrusted with the knowledge of three children's true heritage.
Her bar was the first place the Red-Haired Pirates visited on their initial arrival. She treated them with exceptional warmth and welcoming spirits, and thus they would regularly stop by on short vacations for an entire year.
She and Shanks formed a bond deeper than acquaintances in-between his way-too regular visits to her bar.
Shanks - Captain of the Red-Haired pirates, a former Roger pirate and a friend of Buggy the Clown. He has gathered a crew of fun-loving, good-minded, strong men.
He had an altercation with the World Government a while ago, which led him and his crew to the quiet village of Foosha.
They periodically stayed there, accommodated by the charitable barmaid Makino. He was smitten with her, but a time came when he and his crew had to set off for the chaos of the New World and Grandline awaited someone like him to put things in order.
Hallo. I'm Antydeth, and this here is my first published Shanks x Makino fic. It took a bit to pinpoint the type of plotline I wanted to go for a moderately big fic and I settled on what the summary already tells you - the symbolism of anchors! I don't consider myself a huge romantic and I generally can't come up with good romantic ideas in my head, so please don't be too harsh on me in the reviews. I'm open for constructive criticism.
I give credit to missmungoe, the best writer in the Shanks and Makino field to have ever been. Her stories are near-unmatched in quality (and length tbh). I found her stories extremely enjoyable to read and I've been desperately trying to get out a Shanks x Makino fic of my own, as a sort of contribution to that small, but sweet community who want nothing more than a Shanks who's casually vibing and a Makino acting like a caring mom/big sister to everyone around her.
I def can't match up to her lmao, but I do try to keep some of the spirit her stories brim with.
P.S. That little trivia drop at the end was something my dear, loveliest of loveliest friends Crimcrom inspired me to do. If you have time you can check out HIS stories, too.
With that all said and done, bye for now and until next time!