Chapter Text
“He hasn’t changed at all, has he?” Shanks hummed lightly to his husband as he watched the carnage that was about to unfold at the auction house.
“What do you expect... He’s your son” Beck pointed out to his husband just as quietly, a small smirk on his lips at the affronted look on the red heads face.
“Why is he only my son when he’s caused trouble?” Shanks huffed, neither men were paying attention to the auction house even though they noticed a fishman getting a shot. The fact that a Fishman was actually on Sabaody and risking being killed or auctioned off to the Dragons, was a shock but it seemed like the guy knew Luffy and also the little mermaid that was the cause of Luffy’s righteous rage.
Shanks and the crew only ended up in Sabaody because they needed to check up on a few things in Paradise, and Sabaody was the best place to find out information on Marineford before they headed there to help Whitebeard save his son. Shanks knew that Whitebeard had a claim on the firefly, but Shanks felt that he had a bigger claim due to Luffy and his own link to Roger; he wasn’t impressed with the actions of Sengoku. Plus, it meant that Shanks could drink through the day at a bar far away from his Da while his men could enjoy the parks and whatever they wanted to do; the Red Force wasn’t really a rare sight near the island even though Shanks did his best to avoid his Da.
He’d been avoiding his Da as much as he could since they first bumped into each other after Shanks was seventeen and starting a crew of his own.
Rayleigh had only seen his eldest once before the loss of his arm and once more when Shanks had arrived to get the ship coated to get back into the New World after the year in the East; his Da was on one of his benders and it was Shakky that had scolded the young man until he told her about betting his arm on the future. Shanks wasn’t even sure if his Da remembered seeing him there.
Unfortunately, Shanks also knew that Ray was in the back of the auction house, probably trying to rob whoever bought him so he could pay off his debts. It wasn’t something new according to Shakky, something that Shanks kinda hated, but, he knew his Da had his own ways of grieving.
“Because he takes after you” Beck drawled easily in response.
The crew had only been on Dawn for close to a year, and yet they found a little ball of sunshine that broke through the walls that had surrounded their hearts for years. He had integrated himself into their lives, buried the roots deep into their hearts that would never be removed. If they could have taken Luffy onto the seas with them, they would have done so, they would have gotten permission from Makino first but they would have taken him onto the seas and kept him safe.
But, Shanks knew all the dangers of the seas, especially the seas in the New World. The Captain could never risk his son the way his father’s risked him and his brother on the seas of the New World.
Shanks had laughed himself sick when he suddenly had a call one evening, his brother reaching out for the first time in years; only to screech down the den den about his son causing chaos for him. The Red head had avoided Orange Town when they were in the East because he knew his brother wanted to avoid being linked to him, Buggy couldn’t bring himself to sail on the seas of the New World when he was without his family.
The elder Captain knew that Orange Town was his brother’s home base, a place that went along with the pirates being the ‘bad guys’ so they could test the merits of East Blue pirates that wanted to go into the Grandline considering Buggy was raised there and knew the dangers.
Buggy had spent an hour screeching about his son being a menace, about his blunt nature and how he had no self-preservation; but his brother also made sure to tell Shanks that his son was going to become a good man in the future and already had two crew mates that would be strong and steady for the boy even though one of them was a reluctant crew member. The clown had also, reluctantly, admitted that he had damaged their treasured hat before realising who was in front of him but Shanks had calmly reassured his brother that he didn’t hold that against him.
Their hat was a treasure for all that knew the significance for it, as well as Luffy and now Luffy’s crew, so Shanks knew it would be fixed as soon as if his son was able to find someone with nimble enough fingers.
“Says the one who razed half a town to the ground to find a man who’d injured me” Shanks drawled with a raised eyebrow, the scars over his eyes stretching a little; the scars that came from the very injury that caused Beck to raze a town to the ground.
Whitebeard was lucky that his son had managed to scurry back to the Moby before Beck had gotten his hands on him, and that was before the two were even married.
“Boss, he has your recklessness and Beck’s protective temper” Yasopp drawled from behind them before silence enveloped the entire auction house as a Celestial went flying across the room due to a punch from Luffy.
“I’m going to kill him” Shanks and Beck spoke in unison as their eyes focused on their son. Shanks’ tone was one of resignation while Beck was a growl of overprotective annoyance.
Panic erupted around them as the auction house was filled with shouts of fear and panic, the civilian’s and nobles suddenly started to clear out of the hall as trouble ensued.
A shout from above them drew the attention of the Akagami Kaizoku as another familiar figure fell through the roof and suddenly landed on another of the Celestial Dragons which made Yasopp face palm and groan his own ‘I’m going to kill him’, when the sniper realized his son was going to come under fire from the Celestials as well.
“Welcome to our world” Shanks and Beck spoke in unison, but neither of the trio made to move from their seats as they watched the Straw Hats hold their own until a familiar wave of haki washed over the final Celestial who wanted to shoot the little mermaid.
Shanks sighed as his Da appeared, he noticed Luffy gearing up for something, and with a look from his husband, he knew he needed to step in.
Rolling his shoulders, Shanks stood up and let out his own Haki. “Anchor. Enough.”
The whole auction house went silent, Shanks ignored the weight of his Da’s gaze upon him as Shanks removed his cloak followed by Beck and Yasopp who were the only two of his crew with him.
Shanks ignored the rookie near the doors who spluttered his name, his eyes focused on his son who had gone stiff at the sound of his voice. He noticed his son’s crew getting agitated that Luffy had frozen, but barely registered it as he stepped out onto the steps and began to move down to where his son was frozen.
“I think there’s been enough fighting” Shanks continued dryly, although Luffy and his own crew could easily note the stern note of finality in his voice. Luffy knew not to push against that tone, he’d done so once and Shanks had drilled it into the lad, for a week, why that was a bad idea.
Luffy had been grounded for the week, he hadn’t been allowed on the Force; hadn’t been allowed outside of Party’s Bar. He’d been stuck with an early bedtime which Shanks made sure was stuck to by tucking him into bed and staying with him until he was asleep. He’d also made Luffy do lines and chores every day until he learned that disobeying the Captain was a bad idea, especially if it would cause Luffy to be injured in the initial disobedience.
Beck was the one to notice how Luffy was shaking yet still not turning to face Shanks which made him sigh and move forward to knock his husband across the back of his head. The yelp that Shanks released made everyone stare at the two as Beck moved passed his husband to stand in front of his son.
With a small grin, he caught his son’s chin and made him look at him.
“You and the idiot really need to think over the wording of your promise, anchor. You don’t have to give the hat back yet, but you can still see and talk to each other.” Beck pointed out to the boy, the two idiots ran his words through their heads as well as the words of the promise before Luffy broke into his bright grin and snickered.
Luffy didn’t hesitate and threw his arms around Beck tightly.
Beck laughed softly and grinned brighter when he noticed the pout on his husband’s face.
“As much as I would love to rub this in Chief’s face longer, we should probably get outta this place before an admiral arrives” Beck pointed out and gave Luffy a stern look when the young Captain looked up at him with bright eyes, he was glad to note the light wince that assured Beck that the boy knew he’d gone too far with his temper. “Go, we’ll catch up and keep the worst off your back”
Luffy snickered his usual snickers before he shot up, calling for his crew to follow him as the mermaid was saved from her collar by Rayleigh and another crew member of their sons appeared with the keys for everyone else.
Beck noted that the other rookies left at the same time and sighed when he heard the sound of fighting outside the doors, but his focus moved to his husband who was watching Rayleigh closely.
“Red...” Rayleigh spoke carefully, the man was actually meeting Shanks sober for once and Beck wasn’t sure how his husband was going to take it.
Beck knew that Shanks had his issues with Rayleigh, knew that the man had fucked up in his grief over the loss of his husband and best friend; but Beck also knew that Shanks understood the grief, that he could forgive his father if the man actually apologised to him. Shanks had admitted that if he ever lost Beck, he would either follow him into the locker, or would end up drinking himself into oblivion like his father. The only thing he didn’t really agree with was his abandonment of him and Blue, he could never see himself abandoning Luffy to the clutches of the marines, bounty hunters and rival pirates alike.
It was also one of the reasons that he couldn’t bring himself to let Luffy sail with them at a young age. If Luffy had joined them then he would have had a Bounty at a younger age than Nico Robin. When Shanks had learned that Robin was now a Straw Hat, the man was extremely proud of his son because he knew how hard it was to be on the run for most of his life and Robin seemed to be happy now.
The three Akagami Kaizoku knew that they would be having talks with their sons over the Enies Lobby debacle.
“Sober for once I see” Shanks spoke up, a bitter lilt to his tone that had the other three men wince.
“Talk later... We need to go keep our son safe” Beck pointed out to his husband, ignoring the shocked look on Ray’s face. “I have a feeling they are going to be relentless, and we need to grab him and get to Marineford too”
Shanks winced lightly at the reminder of Marineford, he had a feeling that Luffy was going to be a part of the war even if he didn’t want him to be. From what Shanks had learned from Ace during their initial meet up and the time they’ve seen each other since his joining of Whitebeard, the boys were protective of each other so Luffy would do anything to save his big brother.
“We need to make sure Lu doesn’t try and destroy Impel Down like he did Enies Lobby” Shanks agreed with a small sigh and a nod of agreement before he hesitated. He gestured for his Da to follow them as he, Beck and Yasopp left the building. The four men were amused and impressed at the state of the marines after their fights with the rookies; Shanks and Rayleigh both released their haki to knock the rest out before they continued on after the Straw Hats.
“They’ll head to Shakky’s” Rayleigh decided to pipe up carefully.
Shanks glanced over his shoulder before nodding in gratitude for his father’s information, he hummed a sea shanty under his breath as they walked through the groves. The other three knew that Shanks did that so they didn’t have to walk in silence, but also because he didn’t want to talk either. Beck was fine walking in silence with just his husband’s humming, it meant that he could relax the panic that had risen when he thought over the fact that his son had not only declared war on the World Government, but, he had also now attacked the Celestial Dragons.
The Akagami Kaizoku trio weren’t surprised that they had arrived in the bar before Luffy and the others, they had a feeling that their anchor was probably distracted by something even though they needed to get somewhere safe. It only took ten minutes for the Straw Hats to arrive.
The moment Luffy spotted Shanks and Beck, he stiffened before shooting forward, clinging to the men tightly as he wrapped his arms around them both multiple times.
“Hey there anchor” Shanks chuckled in amusement as he managed to shift his arm free from the tight grip he had around him and knocked the hat back before running his fingers through the boys hair fondly.
“Mupondi Usopp!” Yasopp immediately scolded his son when he noticed his boy next to the Straw Hat navigator as the little reindeer ushered Hatchan somewhere where he could help him with his injuries
Usopp immediately squeaked in surprise and hid behind Sanji as Franky helped Zoro to sit down somewhere more comfortable than a bar stool considering he was still healing.
The rest of the crew looked at Usopp in surprise since they’d never heard his family name being used.
“Hm, such a fitting name” Robin commented curiously and smiled lightly when Yasopp’s stern scowl dropped as he glanced at the former runaway; he gave her a small smirk and nod of his head.
The rest of the crew looked at Robin curiously, except for Usopp who was still hiding from the stern looks of his father. He hadn’t seen the man in years so wasn’t used to stern attitudes around him except for Kaya’s parents and Merry before everything happened with Klahadore.
“Usopp may I question what languages are used in your home town?” Robin inquired curiously and Usopp eagerly accepted the distraction as he focused on their archaeologist as the people around them watched the young woman with the same amount of curiosity.
Shanks and Beck knew what was being discussed, as did Luffy since Yasopp had taught the lad some of this home language after the boy had heard him speak it on Dawn.
“It’s a mixture of different languages, I don’t really know the names of them; most of them are exclusive to the East Blue unless people migrated away and taught it elsewhere” Usopp informed Robin with a shaky smile. “But other than standard, I speak the language of the northern part of the Gecko Archipelago, it’s my paternal families language. Mama spoke some but she preferred to speak in standard since a lot of people moved to the Geko islands over the years and the languages became diverse”
“I’m guessing they moved to the Geko Islands because it was a large space of land in what is classed as the weakest sea?” Robin inquired further, smiling lightly as Usopp stopped hiding behind Sanji, the rest of the crew watching “Safer from pirates”
Nami, Zoro and Luffy all snickered at the last observation from Robin, especially when Usopp blushed and scowled weakly at the three who had been to his home and witnessed his usual call of pirates appearing on the island.
“Yeah... The village I lived in was a small one on the coast, it was one that mainly consisted of old families that had passed down through the years. But the languages were still pretty diverse” Usopp spoke carefully, his eyes flickering to watch his father just in case he started to scold him again
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but your family name translates to sniper in standard?”
Yasopp grinned at that and chuckled when Usopp blushed but nodded with his own grin.
While Yasopp was still terrified at meeting up with his son for the first time in years, he was proud of the boy and wanted nothing more than to pull him into a hug like Beck and Shanks were getting a chance to do with their own son.
“That’s pretty on the nose” Sanji commented and smirked as he flicked Usopp’s nose at the same time.
Usopp huffed and weakly slapped at his friends hand before he glanced over at his father, he observed him closely and noticed the fear, worry and hope in his eyes; with a sigh, he slipped away from his crew and wrapped his arms around the man.
Yasopp stiffened before he gripped onto his son and held him tight.
“I’m so sorry, muṱuku ” Yasopp whispered against his sons head, hurt washing over him as Usopp’s grip tightened; he knew he’d fucked up when he allowed his cowardice to overrule his decisions on staying away from Bacchina and his boy
“It’s okay baba” Usopp whispered back, his voice thick with emotion as he clung to the man he had missed from his life for years.
“Red... We can’t keep them here long, I sense Kizaru further in on the Archipelago” Rayleigh spoke up carefully to his son even though his eyes roamed over Luffy, noting the hat that the boy wore. His eyes went sad as he saw his husband in the teenage boy in front of him.
“Who are you old man?” Luffy spoke up bluntly which had his whole crew and his father’s face palming, while Ray snorted lightly as he looked over the boy properly.
“Anchor... Manners” Shanks sighed lightly as he rubbed his face tiredly, a small glare aimed at his father when the man chuckled “Remember my stories... This is Ray”
Luffy cocked his head to the side curiously as he thought through everything that Shanks had told him over the year that he had with them on Dawn. Only once or twice he remembered the name Ray being used, but he quickly remembered that Ray’s name was rarely used because Shanks usually called him Da. Luffy glanced between Shanks and Rayleigh before he glared at Ray and suddenly shot a punch at the man which shocked everyone.
“Monkey D. Luffy!” Shanks and Beck scolded in shock as Shakky started giggling behind the bar while Luffy ducked away from the two men and hid next to his first mate as he continued to glare at Rayleigh who was rubbing his jaw in shock; but also impressed.
“You left Pai and Tio Blue alone” Luffy growled lowly at Rayleigh and Shanks and Beck winced lightly at the one thing that Luffy hated. Being alone.
Shanks opened his mouth to continue scolding the boy before he froze when his brain caught up to him and he realized that Luffy had called him dad and had called Blue by a familial name too. He wondered if Buggy knew... He would need to ask his brother once his brother managed to get out of Impel Down with Crocodile, the former Warlord was an asshole but Shanks couldn’t fault his brother in wanting to break his long time love out of prison. If anyone could do it, it was Blue.
“And I will forever regret that I forgot to tell them to wait for me.” Rayleigh informed Luffy honestly as he rubbed his jaw, slightly impressed at the weight the young man had put behind the hit. He noticed his son stiffen and frowned lightly “I went back for you Red... I went with your Papa to where Garp was waiting, I came back for you and Blue but you’d left and I didn’t know where to find you. I tried until the execution... I couldn’t watch and ended up here. I can’t really remember the next couple of years”
“You were blackout for most of it” Shakky informed her husband in amusement. Theirs was an interesting marriage, they had known each other for years, while Roger had Rogue; Rayleigh had Shakky. It’s why Shakky was comfortable scolding Shanks when the boy had lost his arm and was still drinking and acting a fool.
Rayleigh sent his wife an amused glare before focusing back on his son as he got up from the floor. “I thought I’d told you to wait for me... Obviously with all the stress I’d forgotten. I’m sorry Red.”
Beck watched his husband carefully before he sighed and nudged the man forward gently, standing back as Shanks crumpled into his father’s arms as reality hit him. He and his brother had been alone, thought that they’d been abandoned by their Da while their Papa was due to be executed. They thought their Da no longer wanted them because their Papa was no longer there to be humoured.
Shanks muttered those very things to his Da as he broke down in his arms, the alone thirteen year old that was buried deep within him had come to the surface as his Da gripped onto him tightly.
Rayleigh stiffened at the words coming from Shanks but still continued to rock his son until Shanks managed to calm down. The moment Shanks calmed down, Rayleigh gave his son a swat which made him yelp and look at his Da in shock; something that caused Beck, Yasopp and Luffy to snicker in amusement as Shanks stared in surprise.
“If I ever hear that you thought I was humouring your Papa with taking you boys on, again, I will put you through the same training I put you through with your haki and double it in difficulty” Rayleigh warned his son, his voice a deep growl that had Shanks watching him wide eyed and wary “You’re lucky you’re too old for a proper licking Gol-Silvers Shanks”
Shanks but back a noise of protest as he quickly moved to hide behind his husband who chuckled but fondly hid his Captain.
“Gol?!” A mixture of voices repeated in shock, they Straw Hats all knew from Luffy that Gold Roger wasn’t the Pirate Kings name but was Gol D. Roger like Luffy was Monkey D. But none of them knew what the significance was, nor were they bothered by it much, they just knew that the ‘D’s’ they did know had massive appetites. But they all understood the significance of Shanks being called Gol-Silvers.
Shanks shuffled nervously and grinned, his eyes focusing on Luffy who was watching curiously. Luffy had been told stories of his adventures when he was a kid on the Oro, he just never realized that the boy wouldn’t tell his own crew about his link to the former Pirate King.
“Technically, through adoption, Lu is the grandson of the Pirate King” Shanks informed the Straw Hats who all turned their gazes to Luffy who snickered nervously and rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous shrug. “Although, we’ve never really confirmed the adoption thing with Lu so he can’t be blamed for not telling you”
Luffy rolled his eyes lightly at Shanks.
“Silly Pai, I started thinking of you and Da like that after Ace told me what a dad was” Luffy told Shanks bluntly and huffed lightly at the wide eyed look he was getting from his dad’s “If I’d known before you left what a dad was, I would have called you it sooner..”
“You didn’t know what a dad was?” Shakky couldn’t help but question, those who were on Water Seven with Luffy when Garp told him who his father was knew that Luffy didn’t really know much about dad’s considering he’d openly stated that he didn’t know he even had a dad.
Luffy shook his head at the question and grinned lightly as Zoro decided to shift his weight so that he was offering Luffy some support if he needed it. Luffy didn’t really care much anymore, he had Makino before Shanks and Beck came, then he had them for a year; but, then Garp took him to Mt. Colubo where he ended up with a Ma and brothers in Dadan, Ace and Sabo. When Sabo died, he still had Ace and then when Ace left he still had Dadan and Maki visiting.
Luffy had gotten lucky that he’d met Koby so soon, it meant that he wasn’t alone for too long and then he had Zoro which turned into Zoro and Nami and then Usopp and so on. Luffy was never alone if he had his crew by his side, they were his nakama.
“I only had ‘Kino until Pai and Da” Luffy shrugged lightly, ignoring the confused looks as to who ‘Kino was, “Then after Gramps found out about Pai, he took me to the mountain where Ace and-, where Ace was. With Ace came Ma but she don’t like to be called Ma cause she’s a scary bandit or whatever. Didn’t know I had a dad until Gramps told me on Water Seven”
Shanks and Beck shared a look between them, Shanks had known Garp since he was a toddler; the man was more or less his Uncle which was why he hadn’t been arrested after spending a year ‘corrupting’ Luffy. So Shanks knew who Garp’s only child was, he knew the only way Monkey D. Luffy could exist was through Dragon having a kid.
“Who is Gramps?” Rayleigh questioned, Shanks wasn’t surprised at the eerie calm that exuded from his Da.
Shanks just gave his father a deadpan look. “The alcohol is dulling your brain Da... His name is Monkey D. Luffy. There’s only two other Monkey D’s out there and one of them hides his name.”
Luffy blinked curiously as the links clicked rather quickly for him “You knew who my dad was?”
“I guessed, Anchor, I didn’t know for sure until your Gramps hunted me down after ‘corrupting’ you for a year” Shanks soothed him carefully, wanting to make sure his son knew that he didn’t get close to him just because of his family “Plus, your Da and I didn’t know your family name until months into meeting you, remember”
Luffy shrugged lightly, unbothered by it all as he shifted so he could practically curl up on Zoro; the first mate huffed fondly but shifted so he could wrap his arm around his Captain and keep him close.
“So, punch on sight with Garp for a while, sounds good” Rayleigh decided and smirked a little at the little cackle Luffy released. He eyed the sight in front of him before looking over to his son and raising an eyebrow, but Shanks just waved it off; he wasn’t sure about the relationship between Zoro and Luffy but he wasn’t going to ask until after everything was sorted.
Beck cleared his throat when he realized they’d gone way off topic from everything that had occurred in the auction house and there was still a possibility of the admiral tracking the Straw Hats down.
“Luffy, can you remember which grove your ship was docked? With everything that happened in the auction house, you won’t be able to return to it until the heat dies down... We can ask your Uncle Lime to hide it where the Force is right now” Beck stated, the rest of the crew stiffened at the idea of someone else sailing their Sunny, but they also grimaced at the reminder of the trouble they were currently in.
“Grove 41” Nami offered to Beck as Luffy tried to remember where the ship was, Zoro frowned and wanted to point out that it was Grove One, but he bit his lip at the look that Nami gave him that promised retribution if he spoke up.
Beck nodded in gratitude before he gave Yasopp a look to call Limejuice and the others to update them on what was going on with their nephew and his crew. Shanks and Beck shared a look before Shanks whined softly and gave his husband a wide eyed look so he didn’t have to be the one to break the bad news about Ace to Luffy; although, Shanks would probably end up accidentally making it worse so Beck accepted the responsibility.
Moving to kneel in front of his son, the rest of the crew watched him warily while Rayleigh watched Shanks because the look on his face spoke volumes. Something was wrong and it involved their family.
“Anchor... I have some bad news, but I need you to listen to me before you react” Beck told his son carefully but also sternly, he took out his pistol and held it in front of his son; ignoring how the crew all stiffened at the sight of a gun in front of their Captain even though he was made of rubber “Swear on my pistol that you will listen to me before running off”
Shanks would always use his hat as a way to get Luffy to keep a promise and for the boy to realize how important what they were talking about was. Beck would use his pistol, it was one of his treasures since it was a wedding gift from his husband the day they were bound together.
Luffy watched his Da carefully, scanning his face closely to see if he could find any idea on what was wrong but when he couldn’t; he sighed and nodded before he put his hand on the pistol that he knew his Da treasured “Promise...”
Beck glanced up and gave a beseeching look to Zoro in hopes that the young man would keep his arms wrapped around his Captain.
“It’s been released that Ace was captured by the marines” Beck told him carefully and quickly gripped his sons hands as Zoro wrapped his arm tighter around Luffy the moment the boy nearly let his instincts take over to go help his brother. Beck heard some of the Straw Hat crew behind him gasp and mutter denials, he heard a small whimper come from Nami but he kept his eyes on Luffy as tears began to well in his eyes “Anchor, you promised to listen” Beck reminded his son softly and his heart broke at the worry and hurt in his sons eyes “They’ve set an execution date... But they are doing this to draw out Whitebeard, you know who that is?”
“An Emperor like Pai” Luffy choked out, his breathing getting faster as he whimpered at the thought of losing his brother.
Zoro shifted Luffy into his lap with a wince as he pushed back the pain echoing through his body, he wrapped his arms around his Captain and breathed slow to try and get Luffy to follow his breathing. Something that Luffy struggled to do until Zoro placed his hand on Luffy’s heart and tapped in time of their breathing.
“Whitebeard cares about Ace, he’s going to end up going to war to save him” Beck told him both bluntly but also carefully “Your Pai already decided that we’re going to help, it’s why we’re on Sabaody in the first place. We need you to not do anything daft Lu...”
“You can come with us Anchor... But this war will be dangerous, it’s not a place for rookies.” Shanks informed his son bluntly, he glanced around at the crew that his son had gathered; a few of them had become rather scared (Nami, Usopp and Chopper), but the others had become determined to help their Captain.
“Ace is Luffy’s family. Means he’s ours too” Sanji informed Shanks bluntly, which surprised Shanks since it’s the first time he heard the blonde speak; his eyes roamed over the blonde and he grinned a little.
“Hey! You’re the little brat from the Baratie!” Shanks laughed lightly, his laugh getting brighter at the blush that covered Sanji’s cheeks. “Beck! Lu took on Old Zeff’s kid!”
Beck sighed in exasperation, but he smiled a little at he weak giggle that escaped from his son at the blush that was dusting his friends cheeks; even Zoro snorted in amusement at the look on Sanji’s face.
“I hope you asked Zeff, Lulu” Beck grumbled softly.
“The old man told him to come with us.” Luffy confirmed as his Pai started badgering Sanji about how Zeff was doing, Luffy heard him asking Sanji about certain dishes which resulted in Shanks getting more and more excited when Sanji confirmed that he knew each dish that Shanks asked him about “You can’t steal my cook, Pai. Sanji is mine. Just like Usopp is mine Tio Yas”
Yasopp laughed lightly at the looks on Usopp and Shanks’ faces from how possessive their Anchor was.
“I know Lulu” Yasopp promised his nephew with amusement in his voice, although, he did wrap his arms around Usopp and held him close as Beck moved to sit next to the two boys in front of him; wrapping an arm around Zoro without hesitation so that he could hold his son and also give his son the comfort his First Mate gave him.
“Ha! Lucky is going to love having you on the ship to trade recipes with” Shanks cackled which had Sanji stiffening with wide eyes, he remembered Lucky from when he was a brat with Zeff on a newly opened Baratie; Lucky was trained by Zeff too.
Luffy snickered lightly as he leaned against Zoro and his Da.
“Red...”
“If you want to come with us Da, you’re more than welcome to come.” Shanks chuckled softly before he grimaced and glanced over at Luffy.
Luffy cocked his head to the side curiously as he eyed Rayleigh carefully before he hummed “Old Man Ray... I think there’s something you might need to know” Luffy started and ignored the startled laugh from Shanks before he tried to cover his mouth to avoid the look from his Da at how Luffy had addressed him “Ace... His name is Portgas D. Ace”
Rayleigh stiffened as he figured out what Luffy was implying considering his son was also involved in the mission to get the young pirate from the scaffold, his eyes shot to Shanks who nodded lightly in confirmation, though he did have a look of guilt in his eyes at keeping the information from his Da.
“It wasn’t my information to tell” Shanks pointed out to his Da quietly while the rest of the bar were unaware of the importance of a name.
Rayleigh nodded lightly in understanding to Shanks before he turned to Luffy.
“He calls Newgate his Pops... I won’t change that” Rayleigh promised Luffy who grinned brightly at him and startled the old pirate by jumping out of the hold of his own first mate and Da and wrapping his arms around Rayleigh.
Rayleigh hesitated before he wrapped his arms around the boy and hugging him back lightly.
“So the plan...” Shanks started as he glanced around Shakky’s bar.