A Red-haired man & his Daughter!

"Well, that was an eventful day," Izuku muttered to himself as he walked through Mt. Colubo's forest, thinking about the day he had spent there. Normally, he would have had Ace accompanying him, but unfortunately, he was down with he fever at the moment. So with Ace out of the picture, the only choices Izuku had were to stay inside the house while reading something or to go and wander on his own. However, since he was not in the mood to read anything, he decided to do the latter.

After deciding to spend his day outside, Izuku slung his pre-paid 'emergency backpack' over his shoulder and left the house. Once outside, he wandered through the forest for a few hours. Following that, he tried his hand at fishing but couldn't catch a single thing, much to the amusement of the monkeys watching him from the nearby trees. Later, he had to fight those same monkeys when he attempted to take some bananas from the trees and managed to successfully repel them, after all, it wasn't the first time he had to fight them, thanks to his grandfather's weird training methods. Now, he was on his way back to Foosha Village. Since today was a Friday, and as per his agreement with his grandfather, he planned to spend the rest of the weekend at Makino's place.

As he walked, his mind unwillingly drifted back to the memories of his past life, making him wonder what his friends might be doing right now. He imagined various scenarios: who could be dating whom, which pro heroes his friends might be interning with, and many more things that brought a smile to his face.

But then, darker thoughts started flooding his mind, making him think about how they must have forgotten about him by now and moved on with their lives. He imagined himself reduced to a forgotten memory, remembered only by accident from time to time. He wondered if Ochako had found someone...

Izuku shook his head forcefully, steering his mind away from those dark thoughts. He kept reminding himself that his friends were like family to him, and he was to them. They would never let his memory become a forgotten relic in the attic. Moreover, Ochako was his best friend, and he wholeheartedly believed that she deserved better than to be tied down by the memory of a dead man. Despite their unresolved feelings towards each other, he really wanted Ochako to find someone who could love and support her. No matter how much pain he felt just thinking about her with someone else, he knew it was best for her to find happiness in her life.

Another reason he didn't want to descend into the rabbit hole of these negative thoughts was the fact that just the thought of Eri or Kota forgetting about him was enough to send him into depression, which he didn't want right now.

Fortunately for him, his train of thought broke when he heard a sudden noise. 'Hmm? What was that?' he thought to himself, trying to locate the source of the sound. Then he heard the sound again; this time, however, he was able to guess where it was coming from and walked towards it.

"Darn it! Why won't it work!" Uta exclaimed, stomping her feet on the ground. The ten-year-old girl, with red and white hair, was extremely thirsty and irritated making her more agitated than usual. "No matter how hard I try, I just can't reduce the output..." she sighed, looking at the various trees that were snapped in half around her.

Taking a deep breath, Uta decided to give it another try. She closed her eyes and concentrated power in her palm, causing the wind to spiral in her hands until it created a sphere of dense wind with a greenish hue. "Here goes nothing..." Uta said as she threw the sphere at a nearby tree. As soon as the sphere made contact with the stem, it exploded, ripping the tree in half, much to Uta's ire.

However, before she could express her irritation and anger, she heard a voice, "Whoa, that was so cool!" Looking towards the voice, she saw a boy with green hair and green eyes, looking at the tree she had just exploded with amazed eyes.

"You!" Uta said, pointing at Izuku accusingly. "What are you doing here!? Are you stalking me?"

"Huh? Why would I stalk you? I don't even know who you are," the boy said, looking at her as if she were saying something stupid, much to Uta's ire. "I just came to investigate who was making those loud, weird noises in the forest."

"Hey! I wasn't making any weird noises, I—" Uta's rant was cut short as she started coughing, unable to stop herself due to her already dry throat.

While Uta was coughing her throat out, she heard footsteps rushing towards her. Looking up, she saw the boy she was arguing with standing next to her, his eyes filled with concern. "Here, have some water; it will make you feel better," he said, offering her a bottle of water.

Normally, she would have been more hesitant before accepting something from a stranger, but right now, her throat was killing her, so without a second thought she quickly grabbed the bottle and gulped half of the water.

"Wow, that was bad," the green-haired boy said, sounding relieved. "Did you eat something weird recently?"

Uta thought for a moment and pointed at the cluster of mushrooms she had gathered in the morning for her backup snacks. The boy walked towards the mushrooms and examined them. Then he looked at her and asked, "You're not from here, are you?"

"No, I just arrived here three days ago," Uta replied, feeling much more relieved than before.

"Yeah, I figured as much," Izuku said, bringing one of the mushrooms close to her. "Everyone in the village knows that these mushrooms are a bad deal; they make your throat extremely dry and don't lose their effect until you drink something."

"I see..." Uta said, glaring daggers at the mushroom in the green-haired boy's hand. Then she looked towards Izuku, "My name is Uta. Thank you for helping me."

"I'm Izuku, and it's quite all right," he replied. "Although I am tempted to ask why you were deforesting this beautiful land, I think it's getting late, and it would be best for you to go back," he said, looking at the setting sun.

"I wasn't deforesting! I was just—anyway, you are right. I should go back to the village," Uta said with a sigh.

"Well, I'm heading towards the village as well, so I can accompany you if you don't mind," Izuku offered.

"Suit yourself," Uta said with a shrug as she started walking, with Izuku walking next to her.

"Well, it looks like we're going to the same place," Izuku remarked as he and Uta stood outside Makino's bar.

"Seems like," Uta nodded with a shrug.

Before wandering off on her own, her father had shown her this place and had told her to return here in the evening. However, it turned out that her new... friend? was going to the same place.

As they walked closer to the bar, they could hear men cheering and laughing from inside. "I didn't know there was going to be a party today..." Izuku muttered under his breath.

"Well, it's always a party with these guys around," Uta said, shaking her head. "Let's go; they're not going to stop anytime soon," she added, dragging Izuku inside.

As soon as they entered, all eyes turned towards them, specifically focusing on Izuku. Though he was weirded out by the sudden attention, he ignored it and walked towards Makino, smiling. "Wow, that's quite a crowd, Neesan," he said, glancing around. "You need a hand?"

"Thank you, Izuku. I would really appreciate that," Makino returned his smile, but then she noticed how ragged he and his clothes looked. "But first, go get washed up. I won't allow you to work here looking like that."

"Of course, Ms. Owner," Izuku said, giving her a playful salute before heading upstairs.

Meanwhile, a red-haired man who was sitting near the counter dejectedly hung his head. "I knew this day would come... but my heart was not ready for this."

"You are right, Captain," another man with long, light brown hair and a cigarette in his mouth remarked. "We knew that one day, our dear little Uta would bring a boy home, but I think it's too early for her."

"Maybe we should scare that boy a little before giving our blessings to him," a fat man added while taking a bite out of his meat.

"Yeah, let's mess with him for trying to take our princess away," the other man added while polishing his pistols.

"Oh my, are you perhaps planning to mess with my little brother?" Makino, who was quietly listening to their conversation, chimed in with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, causing the men in the bar to shut their mouths.

Meanwhile, Uta was getting progressively angry and irritated by her father and his crewmates. "Morons, every single one of you is a moron," she said and walked towards the counter while stomping her feet. Then she accusingly pointed at the red-haired man, "And father, stop saying stupid things!"

"Calm down, young lady. Here, have some juice," Makino said, placing a glass of orange juice in front of her with a kind smile.

Uta glared at her father one more time before she took her eyes away from him, shifting her focus to the juice.

A few minutes later, Izuku came back to the bar and started helping Makino with her work. Once he assisted her for a while, the boy took a seat behind the counter and continued observing the pirate crew, while the red-haired man continued flirting with the bartender and Uta did her best to ignore him.

After some time, Makino stepped outside the bar as she remembered some urgent errand, leaving Izuku in charge for a while. As soon as she left, Izuku walked in front of the red-haired man and asked, "Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure, kid, go ahead," the red-haired man replied while taking a chug of his drink.

"You are Red-Haired Shanks, right?" Izuku asked, slightly leaning ahead. "The newly crowned Emperor of the Sea?"

Izuku's question got the attention of the Red Hair Pirates, and all of them were looking at him with amused smiles.

"And here I thought we would be inconspicuous here in the East Blue," Shanks said, shaking his head with an amused smile. "I wonder if my brief stay will turn complicated now that news has reached here as well."

"You don't have to worry about your identity since very few people know or care about the pirates in these parts," Izuku replied. "Besides, the last time your picture reached our little village, you were very young and thin. Not to mention you still had your left arm attached to your body."

"Darn, you make me feel old and useless, just like a swordsman friend of mine," Shanks shook his head with a sigh while his crewmates laughed at him.

"If what you said is true, then how do you recognize him?" Beckman asked, taking a puff from his cigarette.

"That straw hat and the scar on the left side of his face is a big giveaway," Izuku explained, pointing at the left side of Shanks's face. "Besides, my Grandpa loves to complain about you."

"Your Grandpa?" Shanks asked, mildly intrigued by who that person might be.

"I had heard my Grandpa grumbling about you when you ascended to your title of the 'Emperor' last year," Izuku explained as he started cleaning the glasses. "He was complaining to me about how you were just as troublesome as 'that person' and how he should have beaten some sense into you when you were on that 'other crew.'"

"Hmm... it seems you know a lot about me," Shanks said, the amused smile never leaving his lips.

"Not really," Izuku shook his head. "Just something that most of the Marines would probably know about you."

"You don't seem much troubled despite knowing who I am," Shanks pointed out. "Normally, a kid like you would be trembling at the sight of pirates, let alone the Emperor, and running around the village warning them about us."

"Yeah, I would have done that, but I don't usually judge people based on their appearance or rumors. Also, there are two reasons I think our village will survive a visit from an Emperor," Izuku glanced at Shanks. "First, I assumed that an Emperor and his crew wouldn't bother to loot such a small village since you won't get anything worthwhile and only attract unwanted attention to yourselves. Second, you don't look like bad people. The way you treated Makino earlier and your interaction with Uta tells me that much at least. In short, as long as you don't cause any trouble for this village or Makino nee-san, I am chill with you guys."

As Izuku finished his little explanation, the Red-Haired Pirates were looking at him like he had grown a second head. 'Is this really a kid talking?' Shanks thought with a comically large sweat drop at the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Uta was impressed with her new friend, as she knew that it takes something truly absurd or weird to make her father and his crew speechless.

"And what if you are wrong about us?" Yasopp asked with a cheeky smile. "What are you gonna do if we do decide to cause trouble, brat?"

"Then I will do whatever I can to stop you," Izuku declared without any hesitation in his voice.

"Really!?" Shanks asked, somewhat impressed by this 10-year-old kid's lack of hesitation while answering the question. "You think you can stop us?"

"Oh, absolutely not," Izuku chuckled, dismissively waving his hand. "I would be lucky to last for a minute at most as I am right now."

"And you still said you will stand up to us?" Beckman asked.

"I mean, I would rather die protecting someone than run away and save my own life," Izuku said nonchalantly, not noticing the odd looks he was getting from the pirates around him. Uta herself was at a loss for words at how easily he said those, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You are one strange kid," Shanks laughed out loud before taking another chug of his drink.

"Thanks, I have heard that before," Izuku said and went back to doing his work. Then he remembered something and turned towards the only person who was of his age, "Hey Uta, you never told me why you were torturing the trees earlier."

"I wasn't doing anything like that!" Uta exclaimed, glaring at Izuku.

"I am sorry, calm down, I was just messing with you," Izuku chuckled, raising his hand in mock surrender. "Jokes aside, so how did you do all that? Was that a quirk or something?"

"Quirk?" Uta tilted her head. "What is a quirk?"

'Right... why would she know what a quirk is,' Izuku thought and scolded himself for a slip of the tongue. "I mean superpower... no wait, what it's called?" Izuku scratched his forehead. "Yeah right... Devil Fruit. Do you have a Devil Fruit?"

"Again, why does a kid from East Blue know about Devil Fruits?" Shanks asked, shaking his head with an amused smile.

"I read a lot," Izuku replied, not wanting to reveal that the books his grandpa brought from Marine HQ had many mentions of these strange fruits that gave powers to people. Then he turned towards Uta again and asked, "So?"

"Yeah, I accidentally ate one, and now I can control the wind," Uta replied, preparing herself to be called a freak or weird, like other children had called her before when they learned that she had eaten a Devil Fruit.

"Wow, that's so cool," Izuku said, looking at her with stars in his eyes. "There are so many amazing applications of this power. Like..." and just like that, Izuku went off on a tangent about her power until Uta snapped her fingers in front of his face. Looking up, he saw her looking at him with amused yet questioning eyes. "Sorry, my bad..." Izuku blushed a little, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's okay. I am just glad that you are not weirded out by my power," Uta replied. "Besides, that's the problem, you know. My power is a little too 'amazing.' Whenever I use it on something, I just shred it into pieces, and I want to avoid doing that."

"Hmm... maybe your output regulation is the problem here," Izuku muttered out loud, remembering his own struggle with controlling the output of One for All.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Uta asked.

"Well, I'm not sure, but the issue might be that you're using all the power you could muster in a single attack," Izuku explained. "You should try and regulate the output of the power you're using."

"Regulate my output? How do I do that?" Uta asked. "I don't know if it's even possible to do something like that."

"It is totally possible, and I have a trick that will make it easy for you," Izuku said as he walked out from behind the bar counter and sat next to Uta. "Now close your eyes and do as I say," he instructed.

Uta wasn't sure what to do but decided to trust her gut feeling and closed her eyes. "Now, imagine that your power is stored in a huge tank," Izuku said, and she imagined a huge tank filled with green liquid. "Now, imagine a small tap on the bottom of that tank," he said, and she once again did as he said and imagined a tap on that tank. "Now, give me your hand," he gently took her hand and held it upon his own, palm facing up. "Now slowly open that tap, but only a little. Do not let it flow on its own; you have to be the one to control how much power comes out of that tank." Uta did as Izuku said and carefully opened the tap but immediately felt that it was going to overflow, so she closed it again. Then she tried again and again until she finally controlled the flow, and only a little stream of power started flowing out of the tank. "Now, open your eyes," Uta followed Izuku's instruction and opened her eyes only to be pleasantly surprised upon seeing a small tornado swirling in her hand.

"I did it! I regulated my power!" Uta said cheerfully.

"You sure did," Izuku smiled at Uta, remembering how Eri had a similar expression on her face when he and Mirio had used a similar method to help her use her quirk. "Now you just have to keep that image in mind while using your power, until you learn to regulate your power subconsciously."

"That won't take long," Uta declared with a confident grin. "Now that I know the trick, I will-" her words were cut off as suddenly she felt a strong sting in her head. "Ughh, what is going on!? What is with this sudden headache?"

"It must be a drawback of forcefully suppressing your power," Izuku said as he handed Uta a glass of water. "Don't worry though, the more you practice with this, the more your body will get used to it."

"That will happen when it happens, but right now my head is killing me," Uta groaned.

"In that case, why don't we retire for the night," Shanks said, ruffling Uta's hair. "Benn, take her back to the ship; I will join you after I finish my drink."

Benn nodded and picked up Uta in piggyback style as he and the rest of the Red Hair Pirates went back to the ship, leaving Shanks and Izuku behind.

After the Red Hair Pirates left, there was a moment of silence in the bar until Shanks looked at Izuku and smiled, "Thank you for helping her," he said.

"It's not a big deal. Helping someone in need is just common sense," Izuku replied. "Besides, you would have found a way to help her one way or another."

"That's true, I would have, but if I had, then she wouldn't have gotten a new friend like you," Shanks said. "By the way, that thank you from earlier was not just for helping her but for becoming her friend as well. If you ever find yourself in trouble, you can come to me or anyone from my crew; they will wholeheartedly help you, to the best of their ability."

"Again, there's no need to thank me. It was just a coincidence that we stumbled upon each other in the forest," Izuku said. However, just then he thought of something. "Although if you do want to repay me, can you answer a question of mine?"

"Sure, kid, ask away," Shanks said, ordering another drink for himself.

"In that case, can you tell me what it means to be King of the Pirates?" Izuku asked as he served Shanks his ordered drink.

"Huh? That's a strange question, kid..." Shanks looked at Izuku as if he was studying the kid in front of him. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Just curiosity," Izuku shrugged as he poured a juice for himself as well. "To me, titles always hold a certain meaning and responsibility to them," he continued. "There are titles like 'Hero,' someone who does the right thing no matter what the situation is. But the thing is, anyone can be a hero; even the act of helping a cat down from a tree is heroic in itself," he said as Shanks silently listened to him, quite intrigued by his words.

"But then there are titles like the 'Symbol of Peace,'" Izuku said, as a smile bloomed on his face. "A title like this represents the person who brings hope to the people who have lost their will to fight. Someone whose name brings a smile to a child's face. Someone whose mere existence becomes a crutch for people going through hard times. This is what it means to be a 'Symbol of Peace.'"

'Symbol of Peace... sounds too good to be true,' Shanks thought to himself. 'If a person like that even existed, any and all factions that use fear as a currency to oppress people will be on that person's neck, under a week.'

"That's why..." Shanks snapped out of his thoughts as Izuku continued. "...I want to know what it even means to become the 'King of the Pirates'? And who would be better than the man who traveled with Mr. Rogers himself," Izuku finished, looking at Shanks, expecting an answer.

Shanks chuckled as Izuku called his former captain Mr. Rogers, wondering how his captain would have reacted to that.

Shanks thought for a moment, taking a sip from his drink before answering Izuku's question. "Honestly, there is no right answer to your question," he replied. "Every person who sails those seas has their own goals and ambitions, for which they have left their homes behind. Even my crew, when I first assembled them, had their own goals they wanted to achieve, and now, after all those years, some have achieved theirs, and some of us are still trying to find ways to do so. Similarly, being 'King of Pirates' differs from person to person."

"For my captain, the title of 'King of the Pirates' was more than just having the most treasure or being the strongest," Shanks explained, his eyes reflecting the weight of his words while a fond smile found its way to his face, remembering his old days. "For as long as I knew him, above everything else, he valued having the freedom to explore every corner of the world without any boundaries. To him, the King of the Pirates was a man standing at the pinnacle of freedom and embracing everything the vast ocean has to offer."

"And there is your answer, I guess," Shanks glanced at Izuku. "I think that the essence of the title of the 'Pirate King' is based on freedom itself. That title offers the freedom to decide whatever that title will mean to whoever will achieve it. Roger had his own meaning, I have my own, and so will others who are gunning for his title." Shanks got up from his seat and walked towards the door. "The only difference between Roger and everyone else is that Roger had the will and the heart to accomplish his dream and die with a smile on his face." With those final words, Shanks left the bar, saying he was retiring for the night.

Meanwhile, Izuku stayed in his seat, as Shanks's words kept repeating in his mind. "Freedom to choose what I want..." Izuku muttered to himself as he walked towards the window and stared at the moon in the sky, a myriad of thoughts debating in his mind.

To be continued...