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I.
Shanks had made it his prerogative to be as far away from Foosha as he could whenever Garp was headed there. He respected the old geezer as much as a pirate could respect the only honest marine around, but Shanks was also crew and son, and the Golden Age of Piracy had been kicked off by the blood hunt for Roger’s surviving crew. Shanks being alive had very little to do with skill or the navy’s lenience towards children, and more with the bodies of crewmembers shielding his own. He’d buried too many with paper lanterns in the dark of night and lost too much to remain restrained in front of the navy.
He was Emperor for a reason, namely that he’d never be satisfied with the borders of a kingdom, some form of restrained.
Avoiding Garp was a necessity because he loathed the man his Captain had liked too much with all the rage of a child abandoned, and it would be no feat at all to submit Garp to his Will.
Similarly, Shanks knew that no kid should grow up with a family small enough they could count it on one hand and Luffy didn’t deserve to have fingers leftover.
To say that Shanks was pissed when it was Garp greeting him at the harbor would be an underestimation. He thought of Makino holding glass bottles, bound to crack on the ground, glass shards pressing into her face and suppressed his Will.
“Garp.”
“Brat.”
Shanks would never outgrow that nickname and it annoyed him just a bit that he couldn’t say whether it was a relief or a punishment. Their standoff broke so quickly, Garp sighing, exhaustion in the furrow of his brow, that Shanks thought he had imagined it.
“Brat, I need to ask you a favor.”
The audacity. “Why should I?”
“I have two boys,” Garp started, seemingly dodging the question. “Luffy and Ace, and I suppose Ace has that brat of his as well, but that doesn’t matter. I need them gone and protected. I’ve already found a place for Ace, but I can’t keep Luffy there as well. It would draw too much attention.”
Shanks wasn’t unfamiliar with the act of trading, hiding, burning children, though Ohara’s Demon Child had long since grown into adulthood.
“My good-for-nothing son left Luffy in my care, but with Dragon’s latest exploits, the navy is not too keen at letting Luffy run around unsupervised, and Senny has made it clear that any refusal at retrieving my grandson will be punished accordingly.”
Garp grinned, bright and wide, like D., like the Captain before his execution. “I have a two-week head start, but the brat can’t stay with me, and Senny won’t go to war with an Emperor over Luffy. Be so kind and take the brat off my hands, yes?”
II.
The three boys Garp presented him with were all in various states of emotional extremes. Luffy was torn between confusion and ecstasy, the blond kid shot Shanks a curious look, and the black-haired boy with Rouge’s freckles and Roger’s fury screamed and raged as if possessed by a demon.
Shanks counted his breaths, slowly and steadily, like he feared to knock out his crew members and tempered his anger.
Of all the people the Captain could have left his love and child to, why did it have to be Garp? It was no surprise Rouge was dead, that her child had grown up with such a dark heart, when handled by marines.
“Ace and blondie here—”
“My name’s Sabo!”
“Will go to Sabaody,” Garp finished, undeterred by Ace struggling against his hold, pounding his fists on Garp’s back. “I’ll take them myself.”
They will go to Rayleigh, Shanks read between the lines.
Rayleigh was not the worst option for the Captain’s child; he just wasn’t the best either. The Dark King didn’t know how to raise children, but he did raise survivors. Shanks was still standing, Buggy sailed somewhere here in East, and that was enough. Little scars covered Ace’s exposed arms and legs, and Shanks admitted that Ace had probably long since had to forfeit his childhood. He’d need someone who’d keep in alive and under wraps, and that couldn’t be Shanks.
Strangely enough, Ace didn’t seem like the thirteen-year-old he should be, more like he’d only been on this earth for a decade.
But sometimes being small and looking weak was an advantage.
Most of the time, it just got children killed quicker.
Rayleigh was a better choice than Shanks. He had to be.
“Luffy here,” Garp continued, “is your responsibility now.”
The child in question beamed. “You hear that, Shanks? Now I do get to sail with you! But I’m still gonna be Pirate King!”
“Why the hell would you wanna be Pirate King?” Ace bit out, sharp like the edge of a blade.
“Because it’s the best! Why don’t you?” Luffy shot back, arms crossed.
They hadn’t been raised together then, meaning Shanks didn’t have to worry about liability or kids worrying about being separated, or wondering which one of them would be held hostage first, desperately trying to hush each other when the Nightmares walked past them.
Great.
This was going to be a disaster.
III.
“You said no kids, Captain,” Yasopp was the first to comment, keen eyes, no anger but hypocrisy lacing his words.
I know, Shanks wanted to scream. I know and I hate it and I want Luffy gone but I will not abandon him.
“You heard Garp,” Shanks said instead, watching Luffy wave goodbye to Dawn although the shore was barely a spot on the horizon. “There’s no other option.”
“For the love of— Captain, you know that’s a lie.”
“Do I?” Shanks asked, pictured the ruins of Ohara, Flevance burning bright, South Blue Islands weeping for every stomach ripped open, every toddler smashed against stone paths. The navy would show the child of the most hated man in the world no mercy. If Luffy had to grow up bruised and terrified on the Red Force to have a chance in the first place, then Shanks would allow it.
The little anchor could always hate Shanks later, but at least he’d be alive to do so.
“It’s this or death,” Shanks decided. “Or Impel Down if they think Dragon can be bargained with. Maybe we’re lucky and the whole thing blows over and Garp will come running again, but for now, this is it.”
Shanks didn’t think The Fist would survive.
In this, marines and pirates were alike: traitors were treated worse than scum.
Garp had been a dead man walking from the moment he picked Ace up and watched Luffy take his first steps. It wouldn’t be long and they’d have to think about whether stealing a corpse would be worth a risk. Most likely not. Shanks hadn’t had to show anyone how to hold a remembrance in a while, but it would make a good lesson for Luffy.
Yasopp stared at him a moment later, then he relented and went to show Luffy the best spots on the Rising Dawn.
IV.
Luffy grew up quickly and he took well to living on a ship. For once, his rubbery limbs gave him the advantage as the boy always managed to find something or someone, Shanks most of the time, to hold on to when the sea got rough. He did less well on his chores, but Luffy was young and the crew indulgent enough still to excuse him slacking. The Red Hair Pirates were not an exceptionally structured bunch after all. Whitebeard reigned as a supreme patriarch, Big Mom was a terrifying matriarch, and Kaido had established himself as the head of an entire country, but Shanks, to most, was just some guy.
He was the joker, the musician, and Captain of his crew, but he didn’t lord and reign over them.
Shanks had never wanted to be King; he hadn’t even wanted to become an Emperor.
The Wandering Emperor, they called him, for Shanks had no shore he called his own and laid no claim on any Sea. He knew plenty of islands great for partying, exploration, and training – the latter sorely needed with Luffy staying with them – but Shanks did not own them.
He thought himself incapable of owning anything, not even his own life.
The Sea had claimed him, and for all that she whispered sweetly, embraced him like a loving mother, she was also a possessive and vengeful bitch. Shanks could not stay away and he’d long since stopped wondering whether it caused him pain or brought joy, unable to find a clear answer.
Watching Luffy study the horizon, dark eyes blown wide in wonder, he found revelation.
And promptly locked it tight in his heart.
V.
Garp made it to Sabaody and dropped little Ace off with Rayleigh. The newspaper didn’t say so, but Shanks inferred it from the article boldly proclaiming Marine Traitor Garp The Fist Dead!
The Marines had caught up to him somewhere in West Blue. What the hell the old man was doing there, Shanks had no idea, but he supposed it didn’t matter as much as long as it meant that Ace was safe. Garp was smiling in the photograph taken moments before his death, bloodthirsty and terrifying like Shanks recalled him from his childhood days.
And there, right beneath it, was Luffy’s first bounty.
Wanted
Alive
Monkey D. Luffy
20.000.000.
Yeah, they’d have to get the fuck out of East Blue. Maybe sail up north. They hadn’t been in a while, primarily because of the marines and Germa, but with Garp having taken out an entire fleet with his last breaths, they were bound to search through the entirety of West Blue before even looking at any of the others.
It would give Shanks enough time to prepare his littlest crewmember.
Enough time for Luffy to grieve and move past it.
“It’s alright, Anchor,” Shanks whispered into the mop of black hair. “You can cry. It doesn’t make you weak.”
It made you whole and healthy. Shanks had lost the ability a while back and he mourned it dearly.
Luffy cried until his eyes were red-rimmed and he had exhausted himself so much that he fell into a fitful sleep. They’d be alright, someday in the future. They just had to take it one day at a time.
VI.
The fact that the Red Hair Pirates were a laid-back bunch probably had more to do with Shanks’s general lack of ambition and willingness to indulge than anything else. He promised his crew a lifetime of adventure, and that was enough for most of them. Sure, they all had their own dreams and hopes, and Shanks would never ask them to abandon them, but they weren’t out to follow some grand goal like the other Emperors.
Unfortunately, that gave people the idea that they could be attacked, resulting in Luffy’s most recent lesson: bounties.
“The higher the number, the more dangerous the pirate,” Benn explained. “Got it?”
“Got it,” Luffy replied, very obviously not getting it. He’d shot up a bit in the last months; they’d have to go shopping soon. All of Luffy’s current clothes included either an anchor printing or the mark of their jolly roger, which was cute on the kid, but also made him an identifiable target.
Not that they’d really let Luffy meet any other crew or even step on land much.
Perhaps Shanks was still a bit paranoid. Benn was certainly calling him out on it with subtle glances that were bound to turn into an actual speech someday soon.
“Maybe an example would help,” Tevan suggested, advocating for violence as befitting of their chief gunner. “We could grab some small-time bounty and see how well Luffy does beating them up.”
“That’s a terrible suggestion,” Benn replied drily.
A week later, they tried it anyway.
Turns out, either the Marines’ standards lowered, or they had trained Luffy up good.
“Maybe we should grab someone stronger,” Lucky thought out loud while handing out dinner. “It would be good to gorge how strong the kid actually is and if we can leave him alone for a minute if things get a bit rough.”
“As long as the Captain’s there, no need to worry!” Someone else shouted into the round, laughter breaking out.
Shanks grinned, pleasantly fake, and thought of standing in Roger’s shadow.
There was no security net on a pirate ship.
VII.
The thing is, Shanks didn’t want Luffy to be scared of him. Luffy’s love was easily won; the boy handed it out as freely as the storms the wind and his admiration was a precious gift. Shanks had crafted himself into a monster, larger than life and impossibly strong with all the desperation of a child who knew loss so very intimately.
His crew was vaguely aware of his past.
They didn’t know of Roger, no, but they knew he’d lost a Captain, a crew, and a home all at once and that he’d be willing to raze Mariejois to the ground for any of them.
Luffy had no idea how deep Shanks’s possessiveness ran. The boy still talked about becoming Pirate King, but truth be told, on some days, Shanks refused to even imagine Luffy leaving his crew. He’d have to let go eventually, but only once Shanks was sure that he could survive on his own.
Not anytime soon.
Not when he was fifteen.
Luffy would have years and years to grow.
VIII.
In the end, they had a year. Luffy was a little older than his picture in the wanted poster, and they’d let attention slip just once, for no longer than a second.
A second had been enough for a marine ship to grab him.
Shanks considered himself to be merciful in that he never dragged out the act of killing. There was no need for him to do so when all it took to freeze a heart was his Will.
But Shanks also wasn’t feeling very merciful when he heard Luffy screaming out, struggling in the marine’s hold as he tried to get away, aiming for the water.
He thought of Buggy falling overboard, nearly drowning, clinging to Rayleigh, and gasping for breath.
The marines knew and Shanks had a kid to protect.
His fury had always been a cruel thing, so terrifying that he used to choke on it, spent weeks black-out drunk in the aftermath of Baterilla’s slaughter just so he wouldn’t have to face it. This time, he unleashed it all at once, the anger of a mourning son, the rage of a scared teenager, the resentment of a man who’s grown up despite everything.
IX.
Bounty of the Fourth Emperor Rises!
Red-Haired Shanks Erects Marine Graveyard!
“Shanks?”
Technically speaking, Luffy had his own bed. There was a pile of blankets in Shanks’s room and another in the crew’s. Before the incident, he’d actually slept in both places, but now he made his home in Shanks’s bed more often than not.
“Yes, Anchor?”
Luffy raised his head to look Shanks in the eye. “Your bounty is very high.”
“Yes.”
Not caught up to the other Emperors, but Shanks was sure it had piqued their interest. Whitebeard, at least, was bound to track him down and ask for the whole story.
“Higher than most.”
“Also right.”
Luffy bit his lip and frowned. “That means you’re stronger than a lot of people.”
“Yep.”
It was a bit simplified since plenty of bounties measured by importance above strength, but Luffy was probably a bit young to entirely understand that. Shanks stayed silent until Luffy’s face split into a smile.
“That means you can defeat all the bad guys!”
Shanks blinked and then, unable to help himself, started to laugh. All the time spent wondering when Luffy would snap and look at him in horrible awe, and Luffy blew right past it.
“Yeah, kiddo. I’ll keep you safe.”
X.
Buggy took one look at Luffy hanging from the highest mast, feet touching the ground, and leveled Shanks with a flat look.
“What the fuck, Shanks.”
Shanks shrugged. “I made a bet.”
Months before, that kind of statement had made him reach for his lost arm; nowadays, it had him search out Luffy, sending him a pulse of Haki. Luffy had no control over his own yet, whatsoever, but he did notice when Shanks tried to get his attention.
“That explains absolutely nothing,” Buggy said. “But you know what? Don’t care. Get your ass out of East; the marines get too eager with you here.”
“Yes, yes, we’re on our way to the Grand Line. We need a new ship, something a little more robust. The Dawn’s been serving us well, but I’m thinking we’ll need a ship made from Adam wood,” Shanks replied. “Just wanted to pay you a visit. Anything you want me to tell the old man?”
“Get fucked.”
Shanks grinned at his brother. “So the usual.”
Luffy had stopped playing and went back to attacking Yasopp. The man had become his favorite ever since they’d anchored near his hometown and Luffy had gotten to meet Usopp. Watching Luffy take his first steps on land after a year at sea had been quite funny.
“How old’s the brat?”
“Nine.”
As old as they’d been when Roger had decided that they’d be able to withstand the New World. Shanks didn’t want to take Luffy anywhere near there until the kid was a little stronger, but going by the way he’d been developing, it wouldn’t be long.
Buggy let out a string of curses. “Shit, he really is a brat. Were we that small too?”
Probably.
Shanks didn’t want to consider that in too much depth.
XI.
The first time Shanks had used Conqueror’s Haki, a blade had been pressed to his throat, a gun to Buggy’s head, and he’d simply blacked out. The last thing he’d seen had been the Captain’s eyes, blown wide in surprise.
Shanks’s Will had always been strong.
Luffy’s might be stronger.
They’d barely been through Paradise when they’d been attacked. The marines had anticipated Shanks’s arrival and had been keen to disrupt them. They hadn’t meant to actually get to Shanks, red hair for all the red marine blood he’d spilled, but the decidedly easier target.
Or that had been before Luffy had screamed, knocking out most enemies in vicinity, shaking some of the crew, and freezing Shanks.
Shanks hadn’t killed the faceless man who’d captured him, though he’d very quickly learned how to will someone to death.
The men surrounding Luffy were knocked out, maybe even concussed, but the one who’d held him was most certainly dead.
Benn swept Luffy up in his arms and it didn’t seem like the boy noticed what he’d done.
XII.
“Where we going next?” Holima asked. Their helmsman was a little subdued, likely from last night’s hangover. Their crew had an excellent alcohol tolerance, but drinking for fun was very drinking from exhausted terror because your littlest crewmate was guaranteed to grow up a monster.
They were all monsters, but Shanks had recruited in all seas, and not all of them had grown up with Haki being something flaunted casually on a lazy afternoon.
“Calm Belt,” Shanks said. “Anchor’s going to need more training and the Dawn can hold out a little longer.”
Calm Belt was an excellent training ground for a budding King.
XIII.
“I don’t wanna move to a new ship!” Luffy complained, all of twelve years old, arms crossed, so angry he looked near tears.
But at least his Will was nothing more than a question and not a demand to obey. Luffy had learned control, and his was much better than Shanks’s own had been at that age.
“Oh, Anchor.” Shanks pulled his cabin boy close and let Luffy sob into his shirt. Losing a home was never easy and Luffy had been orphaned once, if not twice, and now familiarity would be torn from him again. “The Dawn has served us well, but she’d old and hurt.”
“But you’re the Captain. You’re supposed to care for her too!”
“And I do,” Shanks said. “And do you think the Dawn would be happy if staying with her would endanger us all?”
Luffy frowned, separated just far away enough from Shanks to study his expression. The boy was getting exceptionally good at reading people, give it a few years and Shanks could get him started on Observation Haki specifically.
“No,” Luffy concluded. “No, she wouldn’t. I’ll still miss her.”
“I’ll miss her too, kiddo.”
XIV.
The prospect of seeing Rayleigh had been much less daunting when Luffy’s bounty had been younger and Shanks drunker.
Shakky’s bar was still the same as always, which was a small comfort. Despite its rundown exterior, Luffy looked at it with wide eyes. Sabaody had impressed the kid greatly, and Shanks wouldn’t mind spending a little more time here if not for the fact that the marines would catch on and Whitebeard, generally speaking, didn’t like it when another Emperor stayed so close to Fishman Island.
“Missing your girlfriend?”
“Koala’s not my girlfriend! Besides, they’ll be here to pick me up for my birthday.”
Shanks opened the door to the bar and found Shakky cleaning glasses while in one corner sat two boys, one blond, the other with black hair, arguing over food.
The Captain’s son had his coloring, but otherwise, Ace looked just like his mother.
It was somewhat of a relief.
“Hey, little songbird,” Shakky greeted him, drawing the boys’ attention away from their argument. The blond – Sabo, was it? – was a little more subtle about his gawking, but Ace couldn’t be any more obvious.
“Hello, Shakky. Is Rayleigh in?”
“Slave auction, I think,” she replied. “Do you want a drink? And who’s the little guy beside you?”
“I’m not little! I’m thirteen!” Luffy protested immediately. “And my name is Luffy.”
No further introduction needed.
Shakky smiled at him and leaned over the counter of the bar to poke his nose. “You’re a cute one. Are you hungry? Ace and Sabo won’t mind sharing their lunch with you.”
The boy looked like they wanted to protest but, wisely, stayed silent. Luffy shot Shanks a questioning look and rushed off before Shanks even nodded. His Haki was getting better; they could let him join proper fights sometime soon.
Shanks missed the times of friendly spars, but things had gotten too tense and who would they even spar against? Mihawk didn’t want to fight him anymore, never mind that he didn’t even have a crew, and all the other Emperors were far out of Shanks’s comfort zone.
Shakky poured him a glass and the two watched as three East Blue boys spoke for the first time in years.
He decided not to pay as much attention when Ace and Sabo began talking about Garp.
XV.
“Buggy says ‘get fucked’,” Shanks said in lieu of an actual greeting.
Rayleigh had returned late and Shanks had decided against wondering whether the older man had hoped Shanks would have left already. The three boys had befriended each other and gone out after a while, thankfully without any kind of incident. Letting Luffy out of his sight for the first time in years was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t like Shanks couldn’t sense him.
Not that it had stopped Shanks from giving Luffy a very long and detailed talk about what to do in case he got into any danger.
Thankfully, Luffy hadn’t noticed Ace and Sabo exchanging looks over his head at Luffy’s ‘knock everyone out who tries to touch me’.
They were not Shanks’s responsibility, and he did not have to explain to a bunch of snot-nosed teenagers why teaching his kid that Conqueror’s Haki first, questions later was a perfectly valid strategy.
“He is doing alright then?” Rayleigh asked and looked past Shanks to the cuddle pile. Luffy was sprawled across the laps of his new friends, Ace and Sabo leaning against each other, legs and hands intertwined.
It reminded him of himself and Buggy in the aftermath of a fight. More often than not, that was when Rayleigh or the Captain had picked them up and brought them to their beds.
“Like always,” Shanks said.
Like you’d know if you had ever paid any attention to us after the Blood Hunt, he didn’t say.
Rayleigh hummed and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the shelf. To Shanks’s surprise, he poured himself only a single glass, then put the alcohol away. Shanks couldn’t tell what motivated Rayleigh to explain Shakky didn’t allow him more on days like these, but he also didn’t particularly feel like learning how Rayleigh usually spent Roger’s birthdays.
Shanks tended to get drunk before. He’d spent only a handful of days sober in the twelve years following Roger’s execution.
Now he held back on his alcohol; it did take a ship to teach an apprentice.
“So, what are you here for?”
“Haven’t visited in a while,” said Shanks. “And I wanted to see what happened to Garp’s other brats.”
Rayleigh held his glass between his hands, looking painfully similar to the man Shanks used to adore so much.
“They’re doing good. Sabo’s planning to join up with Dragon’s hoard and Ace is thinking of taking up his father’s name.”
Shanks raised a brow. “That was an issue before?”
He’d wondered about the angry boy before, what a child raised by Garp in the shadow of Roger’s legacy might think of his father, but he hadn’t ever lingered on it. Some grievances were best laid buried.
“I took them to Baterilla last year, visited Rouge’s grave. Garp apparently told the kid that Rouge had wanted Ace to take his father’s name, and he’s been considering it since.”
“Is he strong enough?”
Because Shanks and Buggy very nearly hadn’t been, and they’d only been cabin boys. Fuck, Shanks hadn’t even had a bounty at the time. They had survived only because of the crew that had sacrificed themselves for them.
And Seas, Shanks had hated Rayleigh for so long, but it was best the Dark King had vanished without little birds or dragonflies clinging to him. There’d have been so much more attention on them and still—
They’d been children.
Shanks had watched his father die.
This wasn’t the kind of hurt you learned to live with easily.
“Give it another two years, and there’ll be nothing to worry about. That kid of yours, however…” Rayleigh trailed off.
“Luffy’s going to be Pirate King,” Shanks said. “I had to make sure he has time to go claim that crown.”
Rayleigh studied him for a moment, took in the missing arm, the deep exhaustion and the pride Shanks never entirely could stop himself from radiating when speaking of his protégé.
“I think you’ve done more than that.”
Perhaps, but at least Shanks could be sure that Luffy would survive.
And that had always been the bare minimum.