Summary: When the Red Hair Pirates take a much needed vacation in the East Blue so their captain can visit his hometown, Shanks finds that while he's been away, he's become the father of three young boys with eyes too haunted to belong on kids their age. A visit that was only meant to last a month ends up taking a year as the young father tries to get his sons to open up to him. Main pairing: ShanksxMakino.

When most people thought of Akagami no Shanks, the image that popped to mind was that of a bloodthirsty pirate captain, a man so powerful he was known as one of the Four Emperors of the seas. They imagined the stoic man that stood at the helm of the Red Force, directing his crew in battle.

And they wouldn't be wrong.

But on this particular day, that same man was standing outside of a tiny little bar in a corner of the East Blue, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself, and working up the courage to open the door.

It had been nearly two years since he'd last visited his hometown, the sleepy little village of Fuusha, and he'd been so excited to be back that he'd had his crew sail straight through the night, until they'd arrived in the early hours of the morning.

The cloudless sky was still a dusty pink when they'd finally docked, and there were hardly any people up and about as Shank had made his way through town.

The few people Shanks had bumped into had greeted him warmly, and he'd returned each greeting with a warm smile and a wave, knowing they wouldn't take it personally when he didn't stop to chat.

By now, everyone knew the routine.

Taking one more moment to bemoan the fact that he hadn't shaved before they'd arrived, Shanks ran his fingers through his hair once more to make sure he didn't look too dishevelled, before promptly throwing open the door to Partys Bar and stepping inside.

The place was empty at the moment, as it wouldn't be opening for another few hours, but Makino was already behind the bar, getting ready for the day, and when Shanks saw her, it felt like he could finally let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding these two years he'd been away.

She was just as lovely as ever, and when she looked up at his arrival, the smile that spread across her face took his breath away.

"Shanks!" she gasped, putting down the glass she'd been cleaning and coming out from behind the counter to throw her arms around him. "You're back!"

"I'm back," he echoed, folding arms around her and nuzzling against her hair, causing her to giggle. "Miss me?"

"Of course," she replied, burrowing deeper into the embrace.

Chuckling, Shanks pulled back slightly so he could drop a kiss on her forehead, not mentioning the tears that were gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"Did you guys just get here?" she asked.

"Mmhm," hummed Shanks, brushing another kiss lightly across her cheek and she giggled again, pulling away a little as if it tickled.. "Just docked ten minutes ago. Ben and the others should be here soon."

"Oh!" gasped Makino, suddenly pulling away a little, and Shanks looked down at her in confusion, his eyebrow raised slightly.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Makino was looking back towards the stairs that led towards her living quarters now, her expression worried.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning back. "It's just…Luffy-kun and his brothers are asleep upstairs right now so…"

"Luffy?" asked Shanks, confused when he didn't recognize the name. "One of the village kids?"

"Ah…I guess you could say that?" offered Makino, looking down now. "Shanks, you remember Garp-san, right?"

"Sure," he replied. "Crazy old marine dude who lived over on the other side of town, right? What about him?"

Smacking him lightly on the shoulder, her expression disapproving at his disrespectful words, she said, "Don't call him crazy. Anyways, Luffy-kun is his grandson."

Shanks raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't even know he had a son, let alone a grandson. What's the kid doing here with you?" he asked.

Makino looked away, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, as if she didn't quite know how to answer that.

"Makino?" he asked, dropping his hands to rest them on her waist.

She looked back up, a sheepish smile spreading across her face.

"I may have, kind of, ado-"

"OI! CAPTAIN!"

The young couple jumped apart, startled, and Shanks turned to see his crew entering the bar, wearing shit-eating grins as they looked between him and Makino.

"Have you already-" started Yasopp, his voice still too loud, but Shanks cut him off.

"Shut the hell up!" he hissed, glaring at them. "There are kids sleeping upstairs, you idiots!"

The blond's mouth immediately snapped shut, his eyes widening as he stared in shock at his captain.

The rest of the rest of the crew was also now looking back and forth between him and Makino, speechless.

In the end, Ben was the first to get his voice back, smirking widely and saying in a mock offended voice, "I can't believe you didn't tell us you had children, captain! And here I was, expecting to be named godfather!"

"They're not ours!" replied Shanks, rolling his eyes.

Lucky Roo snickered.

"Sure thing, boss!" he replied.

"It's true!" insisted Shanks, turning to look at Makino. "Right?" he asked, expecting her to confirm it.

Instead, she looked down, her cheeks tinted a faint pink, and Shanks felt the blood drain from his face.

"Makino?" he asked. "I thought you said they were Garp's grandchildren. And I know you didn't-"

"Of course not!" she insisted, her expression fierce when she met his eyes.

Shanks felt a bit of the blood return to his face – he had complete faith in Makino, but that didn't mean her reaction to his question hadn't given him quite the scare.

"So they're not yours after all?" asked Ben.

"They are mine," replied Makino after a moment of hesitation, looking Shanks in the eyes.

"…huh?" was his intelligent reply, confusion coursing through him. "But you just said…"

"I adopted them."

SkyGem: That's it for now! So sorry for the short chapter. The next will hopefully be longer, and will introduce our three favourite brothers in the whole world! For now though, please do leave a review and let me know what you thought, yeah?